Dysart keeps its A as most Surprise schools hold top state grades

All four Dysart high schools earned A's: Shadow Ridge, Willow Canyon, Dysart and Valley Vista. Shadow Ridge scored highest among them, at 97.3%.

Canyon Ridge School scored 99.2%, the district's top mark. It is the only Dysart school that has earned an A every year since the current grading system began in 2016-17. Marley Park Elementary was next at 97.5%.

Dysart had 19 A schools and five B's last year, according to a presentation to the district's Governing Board in November 2025. The state's preliminary 2024-25 grades, released in October 2025, show the same 19 A's.

Compared with last year, four schools slipped from an A to a B: Asante Preparatory Academy, Ashton Ranch Middle School, Countryside Elementary School and Sunset Hills Elementary. Two rose to an A: Sonoran Heights Middle School, which had a B, and West Point Elementary School. West Point's 2024-25 grade was under review in the state's preliminary release, and the district listed it as a B. The other B schools are Dysart Middle School, Riverview School and Thompson Ranch Elementary.

Thompson Ranch earned a B for the third year in a row. It was a C in every graded year from 2016-17 through 2022-23.

Among Surprise charter schools, Highland Prep, a high school, scored 100.2%, the highest score among the schools in this review. Bonus points can push a score past 100. It has earned an A in all five years it has been graded, starting in 2021-22.

Paradise Honors High School scored 93% and has earned an A in every graded year since 2016-17. Paradise Honors Elementary School earned an A for the second year in a row. Paradise Honors Middle School, graded for the first time, earned a B.

Legacy Traditional School - Surprise, Legacy Traditional School - West Surprise and Imagine Prep Surprise also earned A's, all up from B's last year. ThrivePoint High School at Surprise, graded as an alternative school, earned a B.

Calibre Academy Surprise fell from an A last year to a C. Legacy Online Academy slipped from a B to a C. Imagine Surprise Middle earned a C, as it has in seven of the eight years graded since 2016-17.

Just outside the city, American Leadership Academy's West Foothills campus on Olive Avenue in Waddell earned a B, after A's in its first two graded years, 2023-24 and 2024-25. The preschool-through-12th-grade charter school says it serves the Waddell and Surprise community.

Wickenburg slips to a C

Parts of northwest Surprise fall in Wickenburg Unified School District, including the Surprise 160 site the City Council rezoned for homes in September. The district dropped from a B in 2023-24 to a C.

Its Festival Foothills Elementary School earned a C, at 66.1%. The school had A's in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Vulture Peak Middle School, the district's middle school, earned a D, at 58.7%, the lowest grade among the schools in this review. It has received a D twice in the last four graded years.

Nadaburg Unified, which also serves part of the area, earned a B. Its Desert Oasis Elementary School earned an A, up from a B. Peoria Unified earned a B, down from an A in 2023-24.

Bonus points are going away

Part of each grade this year came from bonus points. Schools earn them for enrolling many special education students and for science test results. High schools can also earn them for ninth graders taking the ACT Aspire test and for graduates going on to college or the military, up to 9 points in all.

The Arizona Auditor General reported in June that the bonus points were "potentially inflating" grades, and that no other state the auditors reviewed awards them. Without them, the report found, 149 fewer schools statewide would have earned an A in 2025. The state board has voted to drop them.

Surprise high schools earned between 4.5 and 7.5 bonus points this year. Without them, Highland Prep, Shadow Ridge, Willow Canyon, Paradise Honors and Dysart High would still clear the 82-point A mark the auditor cited, and Valley Vista would clear it by 2 points. Imagine Prep Surprise would fall to about 77, below that mark.

How the grades work

The state grades elementary and middle schools mostly on test scores and on how much students improve from one year to the next. High school grades add graduation rates and measures of college and career readiness.

The current formula began in 2016-17, after Arizona stopped grading schools for two years while it replaced its state test. Grades from before then were figured differently and are not compared here.

Schools can appeal their grades through Nov. 16.