Terramar Academy of the Arts, Peoria AZ

Original Research by School Decision on Terramar Academy of the Arts

Terramar Academy of the Arts sits in the northern stretch of Peoria, a fast-growing, car-dependent Phoenix suburb that has shifted from its agricultural roots toward resort living and industrial development along the Loop freeway corridor. The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Deer Valley Unified District, and its name signals an arts focus, though specific program offerings were not available in the data reviewed.

What stands out most about Terramar is its academic performance, particularly in the context of schools across Maricopa County. When you take the average of proficiency rates across all tested subjects and grades, the school places in the top quartile relative to districts in the county. That is a clear strength. Digging into the grade-level results, the picture is more uneven. In reading, the school shows consistent strength across all tested grades, with the highest proficiency rates in the upper elementary and middle school years. In math, the story is different. Early grades post solid proficiency rates, but the numbers drop noticeably in sixth grade and fall further in seventh and eighth grades, where fewer than half of students meet the bar. A parent may want to ask the school how it supports math learning in those later years. In fifth- and eighth-grade science, the school posts strong proficiency rates, showing that content knowledge holds up well.

Because Terramar only goes through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and no information on AP, dual-enrollment, or career pathways. Those measures simply do not apply here.

The student body is large for a PK-8 school, with enrollment distributed fairly evenly across grades. Demographically, most students are white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and smaller shares of Asian, Black, and multiracial students. The data did not include the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, nor counts of students with disabilities or English learners. Those are significant gaps if you are trying to understand the full support needs of the student population. The school's Title I status was also not reported, so it is unclear whether it receives federal funding for low-income students.

The community context tells you something about the families the school is serving. Peoria's zip code shows a high median home value and rental prices that are well above the national typical. The area has been growing rapidly, fueled by master-planned residential communities and new employment anchors such as the Amkor semiconductor plant. Housing affordability is a real concern for many families; the estimated monthly mortgage and rent both consume a large share of a typical household income. This is not a low-cost suburb, and the school's demographics likely reflect a relatively affluent population.

The broader district, Deer Valley Unified, did not have any recent parent-relevant changes reported in the research, such as bond elections or curriculum shifts. That may simply mean no major news in the past year, or that the information was not captured.

Terramar Academy of the Arts delivers a solid academic experience that is well above the county average overall, though the math decline in middle school is a soft spot worth investigating. The school is located in a high-cost, rapidly developing part of Peoria, and the student body reflects that setting. If you are looking for a strong elementary and middle school feeder within a growing suburban district, Terramar merits attention, but you should ask for details on math support and on the arts programming that the name implies.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 364%

School 64% · District 56% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 37% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 55% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 26% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 21% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 43% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 23% · ▲ 31 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 38% · ▲ 28 pts above district

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

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 52% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 666%

School 66% · District 58% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 38% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 874%

School 74% · District 56% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Science

Grade 566%

School 66% · District 51% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 51% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 28 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.