26 Buckeye Elementary School District students get perfect scores – westvalleyview.com

Twenty-six Buckeye Elementary School District students in the third through eighth grades earned perfect scores on their annual Arizona state assessment. 

“Teachers have been working really hard and being relentless in collaboration with each other and really identifying what are the ways that they support students to achieve their best,” said Ana Gutierrez, BESD executive director of curriculum and instruction. 

“So, knowing that effort comes to fruition and helping students achieve at those high levels is really, really impactful, and I know there was a lot of pride when we got the news.”

The assessment is required for every third through eighth grader. It has three parts: English language arts, math and writing.

In addition, the students must take an Arizona Science assessment. 

These assessments show students’ progression, and the schools are graded A to F. This year, all of the BESD schools earned an A or B grade. 

“The elementary school is what decides whether students will be ready for high school and whatever choice they make after,” Gutierrez said.

“So, we take that very, very seriously that we have a great responsibility to our community for them to be ready. So, the letter grades are just the cherry on top to be very honest.

“We want to make sure that students have a wide array of possibilities open for them, and it’s our responsibility to make sure they’re ready for that.” 

Gutierrez emphasized how rare it is to receive a perfect score and how it proves that the kids are at the top tier of their grade in the state. She also noted that the school and district is working to ensure that the students are still challenged within their curriculum so that they may continue to grow. 

BESD Assistant Superintendent Dr. Araceli Montoya said that when the students were told about their perfect scores, most said, “Oh, that’s great.” The staff interrupted the students to share the importance of getting every single question correct. 

“That also hopefully motivated other kids as well in the class to see if maybe they could achieve that same success,” Montoya said. 

BESD has witnessed a lot of growth over the past couple years in English language arts and mathematics skills, as well as in its earliest readers. Gutierrez said it ensures that students have a comprehensive education that will prepare them for the future. 

According to Montoya, BESD is also working to improve through Project Momentum, a school improvement model through the governor’s office, with previous Gov. Doug Ducey, that provided additional money for teacher professional development. Montoya explained that for BESD that professional development took place within mathematics and social skills. 

Gutierrez said she hopes BESD can continue to show that its students are competing with their peers across the state. They’re also demonstrating that the district is preparing students for their high school and college future. 

“Most importantly, our job as a district is really to support our site administrators and our teachers in order to provide that best first instruction to students,” Gutierrez said. 

“So, we are on a great path to ensuring that happens and we want to celebrate them because they’re really the ones doing the heavy lifting and hard work.” 

Montoya said the district is proud of the students who received perfect scores, as well as BESD’s trajectory.

“There’s just a culture of support and understanding that we are building in our district, and I’m really excited,” Gutierrez said.

“I think our district is going to continue growing and servicing this very growing community as well. And it feels really exciting to be a part of that.”