PTS: where we stand

 

Before the 2023-24 school year, the Phoenix-Talent School District developed and implemented a four-year strategic plan focused on improving in four areas: regular attendance, math and language arts achievement, progress toward high school graduation and on-time graduation.

Halfway through that 2023-27 strategic plan, PTS has made steady progress toward those goals, particularly in English Language Arts, but has plenty of room for improvement in other areas.

The district’s current standing in relation to its strategic plan was summarized to the Phoenix-Talent School Board in August by PTS Strategic Plan Coordinator Javier del Rio, whose “Journey to Excellence for Everyone” presentation broke down the latest numbers and their meaning.

According to del Rio, the 7% year-over-year increase in third-grade reading proficiency and 11% gain for tracked third-to-fifth-grade students is a great sign that the district’s measured approach to curriculum implementation will lead to continued and sustainable growth, but also noted that the numbers paint only part of the picture.

Citing research professor Brené Brown's assertion that “stories are data with a soul,” del Rio says it’s important to keep in mind that there’s more behind every data point than right and wrong answers on tests.

“I just want to make sure that every time we look at data, we're not just looking at numbers, we're looking at students, we're looking at kids, and we're looking at teachers and how they work with kids in the classrooms,” he said. “And we're looking at administrators and how to develop systems. So all of that is the story that comes behind the data.”

Where we stand 

(Scores are based on 2025 spring assessments)

Attendance

• Goal: Eighty-five percent of students will attend 90% or more of each school year.
• Update: 64% of PTS students are regular attenders (attend 90% or more of their enrolled school days).
• Closer look: At the elementary level, the rate of regular attenders has increased nine percentage points since 2023 to 74%.

ELA and Math

• Goal: 45% of students in third grade will meet state grade-level expectations in Language Arts and 35% of students in eighth grade will meet state grade-level Mathematics expectations district-wide.
• Update: 37% of third-grade students met state grade-level expectations in Language Arts, a nine-point improvement since 2022, and 18% of eighth graders met state grade-level expectations in mathematics, a 6% increase since 2022.
• Closer look: PTS is in the third year of its structured 3-year curriculum implementation. In math, 2025 was the first year in many that the district did not see a drop in test results from 5th to 6th grade. “We saw growth,” del Rio said. “That’s a big deal.”

On Track to Graduate

• Goal: Every student after ninth grade will have six or more credits.
• Update: 81% of students were on track to graduation following their freshman year of high school, a 2% improvement from 2023.
• Closer look: PHS administrators and graduation coaches have been recruiting 9th-grade students for the summer school program.

High School Graduation

• Goal: 96% of all students will graduate on time with a regular or modified diploma within four years of starting high school.
• Update: 95% of Phoenix High students graduated on time in 2025, a one-point increase from the previous year.
• Closer look: Thanks in part to its successful credit retrieval program and two graduation coaches, Phoenix High has had one of the highest on-time graduation rates in the state since 2021.

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To view the "Journey to Excellence for Everyone" report, click here. To watch del Rio's presentation to the Phoenix-Talent School Board, play the video above.