BULLHEAD CITY – Hard work and improved rigor have helped a Bullhead City School District school achieve an A letter grade from the Arizona State Board of Education. Desert Valley School reached the mark after several years with a B rating.
Three of BCSD’s five graded schools – Bullhead City Middle School, Diamondback Elementary School and Sunrise Elementary School – maintained C grades from the previous year.
Fox Creek Junior High received a D grade – down from the previous year, but up from its lowest marks more than five years ago.
“Desert Valley’s instructional leaders, teachers and students integrated the first-year strategies of the new model of instruction,” said BCSD Superintendent Carolyn Stewart. “It demonstrated notable academic growth, resulting in raising the letter grade from a B to an A.”
State grades are based on data from the previous school year, not the current year. BCSD renewed teachers’ instructional focus on Arizona standards. Then a more intense, transformational approach was rolled out to faculty members, designed to bolster a cooperative, serious learning culture in every classroom to close achievement gaps for all students. Teachers are making these changes part of their daily practices.
“What we’re doing now is a different model of instruction, which is very different and more rigorous than the traditional model,” Stewart added. “When applied, the new model improves academic outcomes. At Desert Valley, teachers have embraced the new model of instruction, and its shows.”
Both Bullhead City Middle School and Diamondback Elementary School had notable student academic growth, but not enough to move to the next letter grade. Sunrise Elementary School held steady.
District officials expressed disappointment in Fox Creek Junior High School’s drop from a C to a D. Stewart said that she and others will be supporting Fox Creek’s new administrative team in addressing the deficits
Many schools across Arizona and the rest of the country continue to report students struggling after they returned from pandemic-related online instruction and other non-traditional classrooms.
According to the Arizona State Board of Education, letter grades are important considerations when
choosing a school, but they are not the only indicators of a school’s performance. Qualitative measures, including programs and extracurricular activities, which will vary in importance from family to family, should also be considered.
