Desert Sage Elementary School, Glendale AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Desert Sage Elementary School

Desert Sage Elementary, a regular public school serving preschool through sixth grade, sits in the north Glendale stretch of the Deer Valley Unified School District. The school draws from a part of Glendale that is largely residential and suburban, with homes whose value places the area well above the typical Glendale figure and higher than the statewide median as well. Rents in the immediate area are a bit above the broader Phoenix metro norm. The housing market here, by national standards, is expensive: the typical home commands a price that is a substantial multiple of national median income, and the monthly cost to buy far exceeds the typical rent, so this is a corner of Glendale that has been built out for homeowners and where renting is the more financially accessible option for many families.

The student body of this school is predominantly white, with roughly two out of every three students identifying as white. Hispanic students make up the next largest group, at about one in five. Asian, Black, Native American, and multiracial students together account for the remainder. The school serves roughly six hundred students across kindergarten through grade six, with a prekindergarten program as well. Data on the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals was not available, nor were figures on students with Individualized Education Programs or English learner status, so a reader cannot gauge economic or special-education composition from the information here.

On state assessments, Desert Sage Elementary performs above the midpoint for schools in Maricopa County when measured by overall proficiency across subjects and grades. In English language arts, the school's results are a mixed picture across the grades. Third graders posted a solid proficiency rate. Fourth graders did better, reaching a level that sits notably above the half mark. Fifth and sixth graders landed closer to the middle, with about half of students proficient. In math, third, fourth, and fifth graders each scored in the low to mid fifties percentile range, while sixth graders fell off more sharply. Science is tested only in fifth grade, and about half of students scored proficient, a figure that mirrors the school's overall pattern.

Because Desert Sage serves only elementary and middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available. The school does not appear to have a magnet or charter designation, nor was information provided about program offerings such as gifted education, dual-language tracks, or specialized academies.

The Deer Valley Unified District, which includes several high schools outside the scope of this profile, was searched for recent parent-relevant changes such as bond elections, budget decisions, or curriculum shifts. No specific changes that could be confirmed with proper sources were found. Publicly reported information about the district was thin on those points.

What this school offers is a straightforward elementary experience in a well-established, relatively high-cost suburban pocket of north Glendale. The academic results are decent by county standards, with fourth-grade reading as the strongest spot and sixth-grade math as the softest. A parent whose child is heading into middle school may want to look into the path forward, because the school's sixth-grade math proficiency is noticeably lower than the other grades, and the district feeds into different high schools depending on attendance boundaries. That question about feeder patterns, and about what programs the school offers beyond the core academics, would be the natural next step in a conversation with the school office.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 56% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 37% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 55% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 26% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 23% · ▲ 33 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 38% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 58% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 51% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

This schoolDeer Valley Unified District (4246), same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.