The top reported proficiency rate is 20% in Math. The lowest is 15% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Arcadia School
Arcadia School serves a large suburban community in the middle of the Salt Lake Valley. Taylorsville is a mid-sized city, part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, with a mix of single-family subdivisions and apartment complexes, strip retail, and business parks. The city incorporated relatively recently, a move driven in part by resident frustration with rapid apartment development and county-level services they felt were insufficient. There is no traditional downtown core; civic and commercial life is strung along major roads like Redwood Road and Bangerter Highway. The city is actively planning for a Bus Rapid Transit line and working on corridor beautification, suggesting a desire to add some connective quality to an otherwise dispersed, car-oriented layout. Housing costs in the area are substantial, and buying a home here requires a high income relative to national medians.
Arcadia serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. The student body is diverse. White students make up a majority of the enrollment, with a significant share identifying as Hispanic or Latino. There are also notable populations of students who are Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Black, and of two or more races. More than half of the students come from households experiencing lower income, qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. This level of economic need is a central fact about the school community.
On state assessments, Arcadia’s results across math, English language arts, and science place it among the lower-performing elementary schools when compared with other districts throughout Salt Lake County. In a comparison field that includes all districts in the county, the school’s overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile. Proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science are all at levels that are well below the midpoint for the county. For a family considering Arcadia, these are the most relevant figures. They are not a judgment on the school’s quality or the effort of its staff, but they are a clear signal that a parent should pursue a conversation with the school about how it supports students who are behind grade level, what interventions are in place, and what the trajectory of academic improvement looks like.
Because Arcadia is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to consider, and no data on chronic absenteeism or disciplinary patterns were available for this profile. The school does not operate as a charter or magnet; it is a traditional neighborhood elementary school within Granite District. The district itself is a large, county-spanning system, and a parent looking into Arcadia will want to understand how the school fits within that district’s broader offerings, including any specialized programs at the middle and high school level that students will feed into.
The housing market in the area around Arcadia is tight and expensive. Rents are also a meaningful commitment, and the gap between what it costs to rent versus what it costs to own is large enough that many families will be renting for the long term. The economic context of elevated mortgage rates and a steady but not booming national housing market suggests that families moving into this part of Taylorsville should budget carefully.
For a parent, this is a school where the academic numbers warrant close attention. The community is a busy suburban environment with ongoing development and a mix of older and newer neighborhoods. There is a significant population of children from lower-income households, which often means that a school has high needs for support services, after-school programming, and family engagement resources. A parent whose priority is a school with strong tested outcomes may need to look at other options in the county. A parent who is choosing based on neighborhood proximity, who wants to be involved in a school that serves a diverse and economically mixed community, and who is prepared to ask hard questions about academic support and growth, may find a good fit here. The main thing missing from this picture is any detailed information about the school’s own instructional approach, its programming in arts or extracurriculars, and the staffing environment. Those would be the next things to investigate directly.
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