Crystle Nehrmeyer, Superintendent
On Oct. 31 Arizona Department of Education (ADE) released the 2022 A-F School Letter Grades for all public schools statewide. School letter grades provide insight and information about student achievement, college and career readiness, student academic growth, and other key areas of interest to families and the general public. Before the pandemic, Mountain Vista K-8 School was labeled a “C” school. We are proud to announce Mountain Vista K-8 School is officially a “B” school in Arizona!
We are pleased to share our improved letter grade with the Oracle community as we work to recover from the impacts of the pandemic and help ensure our students have the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. There are a number of areas that contributed to our improved rating from the ADE, including the outstanding growth demonstrated by our students on the Spring 2022 state assessment of reading, writing, and mathematics. In order to best meet the needs of our students and raise our school letter grade to an “A,” we know we must improve our student attendance rate and continue to focus on student subgroup achievement, including students who receive special education services.
While we appreciate the opportunity to share our students’ achievement and to be accountable for results, we also recognize that the A-F letter grade formula that relies mostly on standardized test scores and does not tell the whole story of student performance and growth. For example, test scores are one snapshot in time that reflect students’ performance on one test, on one day. We must also recognize that making generalizations across school districts based on test scores ignores the great diversity we have across our school districts. This is especially true as some variables such as students’ socioeconomic situation and rural home environment tend to be highly correlated with test scores. As a traditional public school district, we welcome every student through our doors, including those with special needs, English learners, and students who are living with the consequences of poverty.
Our focus moving forward is on accelerated learning across all grade levels at Mountain Vista K-8 School. Our teachers and staff are ready and driven to ensure our students have the resources and support they need to truly thrive. While we celebrate our “B” grade, we are committed to raising our students’ performance with our focus on continuous improvement. We know that our school can and will be an “A+” school in our state. Our motto is more than a catchy phrase. It is lived each day. We truly have small town roots, global expectations!