The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Wood School
Wood School, a regular public elementary school in Tempe, serves children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the Tempe School District, which serves an inner suburb of Phoenix heavily shaped by Arizona State University's main campus. Northern Tempe has a fairly dense, urbanized development pattern concentrated around the Mill Avenue district, Tempe Town Lake, and the light rail line, where high-rise commercial and residential buildings are common. The southern portions of the city, where Wood School sits, are less dense, with single-family homes, strip malls, and office parks. The housing stock in the school’s zip code reflects this suburban context, with home values that are somewhat higher than the broad national benchmark and rents that are slightly above average; for context, the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a typical home would consume a higher share of income than a typical rent would, and the area has seen a mild decline in home values over the past year. The school itself is located in a residential area near a major freeway corridor, which provides access to Tempe’s major retail destinations such as the Arizona Mills mall and the outdoor Tempe Marketplace.
The school enrolls a sizeable student body for an elementary school serving these grades. The student population is diverse: Hispanic students make up the largest share, followed by Black students, White students, students of two or more races, and smaller numbers of American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The composition is a characteristic of this attendance zone and reflects the demographics of this part of Tempe. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, as well as the share of students receiving special education services or classified as English learners, were not available in the source material, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the types of student support and programs currently in place.
Academically, Wood School’s 2024-25 state test results show that proficiency in both math and English language arts was below the midpoint among schools in Maricopa County. Across tested grades, the share of students meeting the state’s proficiency bar was moderate in math and slightly lower in English language arts. In science, which is tested only in fifth grade, proficiency was lower still. These results represent a single year’s snapshot, and the trend data from the same testing period show no change from a prior comparable year, so a parent should treat these as a current baseline. The state test is the primary public measure of academic performance for elementary schools in Arizona, and these numbers suggest that a family looking at this school may want to learn more about the school’s curriculum, instructional strategies, and how the school supports students who are not yet at the proficient level.
Wood School operates as a regular public school and is part of the larger Tempe School District. The district’s publicly available records did not include information about recent policy changes, curriculum shifts, or initiatives, so no district-level developments were available to report. The school website would be the natural next step for a parent seeking specifics on programs, enrichment, class size targets, and the school’s approach to early literacy and math instruction. Given the elementary grade span, there is no graduation rate to consider, as high school outcomes are not applicable here.
This is a school with a diverse student body in a well-established suburban part of Tempe, where the surrounding housing market is relatively stable but not inexpensive. Its test scores are below the midpoint of the county, and a parent would likely want to understand what academic interventions and supports are in place, how the school identifies and works with students who need additional help, and what the school’s own assessment of its instructional program looks like beyond the state accountability test.
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