A-F School and LEA Letter Grades
Arizona Revised Statutes § 15-241 requires the Arizona Department of Education, subject to final adoption by the State Board of Education, to develop an annual achievement profile for every public school in the state based on an A through F scale. The system measures year to year student academic growth, proficiency on English language arts, math and science, the proficiency and academic growth of English language learners, indicators that an elementary student is ready for success in high school and that high school students are ready to succeed in a career or higher education and high school graduation rates.
Prior year letter grades may be viewed in the tabs below. For letter grades prior to the 2016-2017 school year, please visit https://www.azed.gov/accountability-research/state-accountability
2023-2024 A-F Letter Grades
| Category | Designation |
|---|---|
| A, B, C, D or F | School received a letter grade based on the A-F Accountability System |
| NR (not rated) | School is not rated due to insufficient data, primarily because the school did not have a sufficient number of students |
A-F Frequently Asked Questions
A-F Letter Grades are the State Accountability model used to annually measure school performance.
A-F Letter Grades are one component to consider when deciding where to enroll your student. A-F Letter Grades provide general information about the performance of a school and use several measures included the annual state assessment. A-F Letter Grades as well as additional information about schools including the programs/extracurriculars they offer is available through the Arizona School Report Cards website (https://azreportcards.azed.gov/).
A-F Letter Grades use state assessment results, English learner assessment results, attendance, special education metrics, graduation rates and progress towards graduation, and graduating seniors’ completion of activities that help prepare for college and career. These data points are used to measure students’ performance and growth on the state assessment, English learner’s proficiency and growth towards proficiency in English, and readiness for students’ next steps whether that be to high school or to college and careers. For more detailed information on the A-F Letter Grades, please use the A-F Letter Grade Technical Manuals on the Arizona Department of Education website here: https://www.azed.gov/accountability-research/resources under “Technical Manuals & Codebooks”.
According to Arizona State Statute, A-F Letter Grades must be released by November 1st following the school year they represent.
Once letter grades are released, schools have until November 15th to appeal their letter grade based on adverse testing conditions, school/community events or emergency, school tragedy, or incorrect data. Appeals are reviewed by the Board’s A-F Appeals Committee and determinations are made in the subsequent January Board meeting.
The Arizona Department of Education and the Arizona State Board recognize that A-F Letter Grades contain important information for families and communities and make every effort to make A-F Letter Grades available as early as possible.
5-Year Accountability Plan
A-F Accountability Models and Letter Grades
A-F Life Cycle: The visual below provides an overview of important tasks in the A-F process.
One Pagers for the 2023-2024 A-F Models are below. Business rules documents can be located on the Arizona Department of Education Accountability and Research website under "Resources."
To view the 2022-2023 A-F Letter Grades, click on the spreadsheet below:
One Pagers for the 2022-2023 A-F Models are below. Business rules documents can be located on the Arizona Department of Education Accountability and Research website under "Resources."
To view the 2021-2022 A-F Letter Grades, click on the spreadsheet below:
One Pagers for the 2021-2022 A-F Models are below.
Please note that due to HB 2910, A-F letter grades issued for the 2019-2020 school year are the same as those issued for the 2018-2019 school year. Therefore, the one page summaries below reflect models that were not used to calculate letter grades in the 2019-2020 school year.
To view the 2018-2019 A-F Letter Grades, click on the spreadsheet below:
For general information on the A-F System:
For a one page summary of the K-8 and 9-12 models:
For the final business rules:
To view the 2017-2018 A-F Letter Grades, click on the spreadsheet below:
For information on the A-F System:
For a one page summary of the models:
For frequently asked questions:
For the business rules and statistical analysis:
To view the 2016-2017 A-F Letter Grades, click the spreadsheet below:
2016-2017 Business Rules with Appendix
School Year 2016-2017 CCRI Rubric Credentials
TAC Structure and Membership.pdf
A-F Data Presentation and Findings
Click here to view previous TAC meetings.
Letter grades for alternative schools can be viewed in the spreadsheets above beginning in the 2018-2019 school year. Letter grades were not released for alternative schools prior to the 2018-2019 school year. Information on the development for the Alternative School A-F Model can be found below:
HB 2402, passed in 2021, paused A-F letter grades for the 2020-2021 school year. In lieu of issuing A-F letter grades, the Legislature and the Governor directed the Board to identify below average schools, issue a report and direct ADE to release data. For more information, please go to: https://azsbe.az.gov/2020-2021-school-year-reports