Understanding proficiency, percentiles and A-F grades
Three different measures can describe the same school without answering the same question.
By the AZSchoolRankings.com research project. Prepared with AI assistance, using the linked sources and explicitly illustrative examples. Source check: 2026-10-02. Informational, not professional or official enrollment advice.
Proficiency is not a school percentile
A reported passing percentage describes the share meeting the assessment's published performance threshold in the represented tested population. A statewide school percentile describes a school's position among the eligible schools in this site's ranking. These percentages have different denominators. Neither is the probability that your student will graduate or succeed at a particular school.
For a fictional example, a school could have 60% math proficiency and a statewide school percentile of 80. The first number concerns tested results; the second concerns relative standing in the eligible comparison group. It does not mean 80% of that school's students passed, and it does not transform the 60% result into a different test score.
What the Achievement score summarizes
The Achievement ranking uses the published methodology for Grade 11 ACT English language arts, ACT mathematics and AzSCI science. It combines available proficiency-band information, with higher performance bands receiving more weight, across its multi-year window. The passing percentage is useful context but is not the entire score. Read the component table and methodology when two schools have similar passing rates but different scores.
Eligibility is checked before the statewide ranking is assigned. A school with limited data may have a partial computed score but no rank or percentile. Filtering a table can change a displayed current-view rank; statewide standing on profiles and comparisons retains the full eligible reference group. Check the label rather than assuming every rank on the site has the same denominator.
Dates and changes need care
A three-year summary can be more stable than one year's result, but it hides variation across years. When verified annual rows are available, compare the same subject and assessment and leave suppressed years blank. Students in one year's Grade 11 cohort are not the same set as the next year's cohort. A change in reported proficiency is not a direct measure of individual learning growth.
For example, 55% followed by 61% is an increase of six percentage points, not six percent. The relative increase is 6 divided by 55, or about 10.9%, but percentage points are usually clearer here. If the middle year is suppressed, do not draw a smooth trend through it. These figures are illustrative, not a finding that a real school improved.
Official A-F grades are a separate system
Arizona's State Board of Education publishes the official A-F accountability grades. Those grades are not issued by this site and should not be treated as interchangeable with its Achievement score. Consult the state's release, applicable accountability model and technical manual, including any revision or appeal status, before comparing grades across schools or years.
Profiles now show verified four- and five-year graduation rates and dropout rates where ADE publishes exact values. Four-year cohort 2025 and five-year cohort 2024 figures describe different groups, not one cohort's extra-year improvement. Protected percentages remain unavailable. Official school-level A-F records are not yet included; that publication gap is not an official Not Rated designation. The state source remains the place to confirm a grade. We do not manufacture a conversion from test percentiles into A-F letters.
Use several kinds of evidence
Read results alongside admissions context, school size and your questions about courses and support. Enrollment is a school snapshot; tested counts may span several years and only selected grades. Dividing the latter by total enrollment does not produce a participation rate. A careful comparison keeps the period, population and definition attached to each number.