The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in English language arts. The lowest is 43% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Borman K-8 School
Borman K-8 School is a regular public school in the Tucson Unified District, serving children from prekindergarten through eighth grade in a single building on the city’s east side. It is a neighborhood school that also draws from the broader area, housed near the base of the Rincon Mountains. For families looking at the elementary and middle school years together, the K-8 structure means students can stay in one community from the start of their school career through the end of eighth grade.
The school’s strongest academic signal comes from state assessments. The overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades places Borman in the top quartile among school districts in Pima County, which is a notable strength for a school of this size. That overall picture, however, masks variation by grade and subject. In English language arts, results are solid across most grades, with especially high proficiency in fourth grade, where a strong majority of students met expectations. Reading and writing performance holds at about half of students proficient in fifth through eighth grade. Math is more uneven. Early elementary grades show a healthy share of students proficient, but the trajectory dips in later years. By eighth grade, about a quarter of students reach proficiency, a sharp drop that a parent may want to investigate further with the school. Science results are available for fifth and eighth graders and hover around the midpoint, with a modest edge in fifth grade. Some results for sixth and seventh grade math are suppressed because the testing group is small, meaning the school cannot report a reliable rate for those grades without risking identification of individual students; that suppression itself is not a negative signal, just a limitation of small cohorts.
The student body is diverse. The largest racial group is White students, followed by Hispanic students, then Black students and students of two or more races, with smaller numbers of Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian students. The school’s racial and ethnic mix reflects the broader Tucson Unified District, which operates under a longstanding federal desegregation order—the Unitary Status Plan—that shapes student assignment and magnet offerings across the district. Borman itself is not identified as a magnet school, and the data available does not specify whether it receives Title I funding or the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, which would give a clearer picture of the economic profile of the student body. The rate of students with disabilities and English learners is also not reported in the data we have.
Tucson itself is a large desert city with a historic core, the University of Arizona, and a spread-out suburban footprint. The school is located in the eastern part of the city, near the edge of the built-up area. The surrounding housing stock includes a mix of single-family homes and apartment complexes typical of mid-century and later development. Home values in this part of town tend to be moderate relative to the metro area. The broader district context matters. Tucson Unified has seen a steady decline in enrollment over many years, down from a much larger peak, which has led to ongoing conversations about school closures and consolidations. In 2024, voters renewed a maintenance and operations override that provides a significant annual infusion of funding for teacher salaries, art, music, physical education, full-day kindergarten, and class-size reduction. That override directly supports programs at Borman, though the data we have does not detail which specific offerings the school provides.
No program offerings were listed in the available data, so we cannot speak to the availability of gifted programs, specials, electives, or extracurricular activities. A family would need to contact the school directly to learn about art, music, after-school clubs, and any advanced coursework options for middle school students. The school’s K-8 structure itself can be a convenience for parents who value a single transition point rather than a separate jump from elementary to middle school.
In sum, Borman K-8 offers a solid academic foundation in a diverse, mid-sized school within a large urban district facing demographic shifts. The early grades are a particular strength, while math performance in the upper grades warrants attention. The lack of data on economic disadvantage and special programs leaves important questions unanswered, but the school’s overall proficiency standing relative to other Pima County districts is a point of confidence.
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