School Leadership

Welcome to the 2026-2027 School Year!

Saddle up—we have a lot of great work to do!

Our primary goal this year is for every student to know their current level of learning and meet their targeted growth goals. Our teachers are already hard at work preparing individual goals for each student. To keep the momentum going, students will have daily learning targets and will actively track their own progress throughout the year. 

 As a reminder, under the Arizona School Report Card system, student growth makes up 50% of our school’s overall letter grade. The best part about this metric is that every student can show a full year of growth, regardless of where they are academically when they start the year. 

To make this growth happen, three factors matter most: attendance, behavior, and motivation.

Why Attendance is Our Number One Priority 

When students miss school, they miss critical instruction. Research shows that: 

• The 10-Day Tipping Point: When a student misses 10 or more days of school (which equates to about 5% of the school year), their academic growth and test scores in math and reading begin to decline sharply.
• The Slide Into Chronic Absence: Nationally, missing 10% of the school year (around 18 days) is classified as "chronic absenteeism". However, recent studies from the Education Policy Initiative show that students face academic risk long before hitting that official threshold—with noticeable learning drops starting at just 5 to 10 missed days.

Our goal is to keep every student well below that 10-day limit so they can unlock their full potential.

Setting Up Students for High School and Beyond

Motivation comes in many forms, and we want all of our students to feel prepared for their futures.

• For our older students: Scoring consistently at "proficient" or higher on the AASA assessment is a strong predictor of success on the ACT tests in high school.
• For our youngest students (K-2): Scoring "At or Above Benchmark" on the Acadience reading assessment keeps them on track to meet 3rd-grade ELA standards and successfully satisfy the state's Move on when Reading requirements.

How You Can Help at Home

The absolute best way to support your child's growth is by encouraging daily reading. It doesn’t matter what they read—picture books, chapter books, non-fiction, or even comic books—what matters is that they are building the habit of reading every single day.

We are looking forward to an incredible, fun-filled year with plenty of exciting events planned! Let's make it a great year!