Desert Marigold School
PHOENIX · AZ · Valley of the Sun Waldorf Education Association d (79957) · Public charter · K-12 combined
📄 Shareable scorecard →Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
91St Psalm Christian School → AAEC - SMCC Campus → Hope College and Career Readiness Academy → Skyline Prep High School → The Paideia Academy of South Phoenix → Paideia Liberal Arts Academy → ASU Preparatory Academy - South Phoenix High School → South Mountain High School →📋 At a glance
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 4% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 75% (Bottom 21% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Desert Marigold School compares for families
What families should know about Desert Marigold School.
- ▸ LocallyAZ sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: 91St Psalm Christian School, AAEC - SMCC Campus, Hope College and Career Readiness Academy and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 4% by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
Bottom 21% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -1.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 286 students:
≈ 22 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue at risk
At $10,714 per student in district revenue, the 22 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $235,708/year in funding at risk.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Nearby high schools — the local competition
The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91St Psalm Christian School Phoenix |
Private | 1.2 | 155 | -5.5% |
| AAEC - SMCC Campus PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 1.3 | 426 | -14.6% |
| Hope College and Career Readiness Academy PHOENIX |
Public | 1.4 | 83 | +48.2% |
| Skyline Prep High School Phoenix |
Public · charter | 1.6 | 167 | -6.2% |
| The Paideia Academy of South Phoenix PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 1.8 | — | — |
| Paideia Liberal Arts Academy PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 1.9 | 81 | — |
| ASU Preparatory Academy - South Phoenix High School PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 2.2 | 175 | +53.5% |
| South Mountain High School PHOENIX |
Public | 2.4 | 2,207 | +3.0% |