The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in English language arts. The lowest is 14% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Doolen Middle School
Doolen Middle School serves sixth through eighth grade students in central Tucson, part of the Tucson Unified School District. It is a regular public school, not a charter school. The school enrolls a modest number of students for a middle school, with each grade level housing roughly the same size cohort. The student body is diverse, with Hispanic students making up the largest share, followed by White students and African American students, and smaller representations of Asian, Native American, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. Information on how many students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is not available in the data, so a parent wanting to understand the economic profile of the student population would need to ask the school directly.
State assessment results show that overall proficiency in math and English language arts is low. In math, fewer than one in five students met proficiency in any tested grade, with rates declining from sixth to eighth grade. In English language arts, roughly three in ten students scored proficient at each grade level, a rate that held fairly steady across the three grades. Science testing is conducted in eighth grade only, and about one in six students demonstrated proficiency there. Compared to other school districts across Pima County, the school’s overall proficiency index falls in the lower quarter. These figures suggest that many students arrive at or move through middle school without reaching grade-level benchmarks, and a family considering this school would want to ask about academic support and intervention programs available.
The school is located at the intersection of Country Club Road and Grant Road in a central Tucson neighborhood. Tucson itself is a large desert city, the second-largest in Arizona, with an economy anchored by the University of Arizona, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, and technology industries. The University of Arizona campus and downtown Tucson sit close together, connected by the Sun Link streetcar. The area around the school is a mix of older residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors. Typical home values in the ZIP code are moderate by national standards, and rents are similarly modest. As with much of Tucson, the built environment outside the core is automobile-dependent, though the school’s central location offers reasonable access to transit and amenities.
Doolen operates under the Tucson Unified School District, which has undergone several notable changes that affect families. In November 2024, voters renewed a maintenance and operations override that provides substantial annual funding for teacher salaries, art, music, physical education, magnet programs, full-day kindergarten, and smaller class sizes. The district also continues to operate under a federal desegregation order known as the Unitary Status Plan, which shapes magnet school placement, student assignments, transportation, and faculty hiring. Additionally, TUSD has experienced a sustained enrollment decline over the past decade, leading to ongoing discussions about school utilization and potential facility closures. These district-level conditions may influence program availability and school assignment boundaries in the years ahead.
For a parent or resident, Doolen Middle School presents a clear picture: it is a central Tucson public middle school with a diverse student body, but its academic outcomes are substantially below the county average across tested subjects. The data does not provide information on course offerings, discipline rates, teacher qualifications, or extracurricular programs, so a family would need to visit or contact the school to learn about those aspects. The school fits families who prioritize a neighborhood school in a central location and who are comfortable with a setting where the academic profile is a soft spot to be aware of and potentially addressed through supplemental support.
See more original research from School Decision →