Schools in the Fountain Hills Unified School District received some of the highest grades in the state for the Arizona State Board of Education’s yearly assessment of public and charter schools.

The State Board’s A-F grading system is designed to measure year-to-year student academic growth and proficiency in English language arts, math and science.

In their evaluation of two schools in the local district, the State Board gave Fountain Hills Middle School a B grade and Fountain Hills High School an A.

McDowell Mountain Elementary school was not rated, as they are a K-3 school.

FHHS not only received the highest grade achievable in the State’s assessment but excelled in the two categories, proficiency and growth, the State Board uses to determine the schools grade.

“Proficiency is points earned for students passing the math and English [AzMERIT] test,” Superintendent Dr. Robert Allen explained. “Growth points get complicated but the simplest way to describe it is improvement from one year to another.”

Of all the public 9-12 schools in the State, FHHS outperformed neighboring districts like Scottsdale to be ranked eighth in the state for proficiency points.

In the growth points category, FHHS ranked number one in the state.

“There are a lot of factors at work, such has highly focused instruction,” Allen said when addressing what is behind the high school’s exemplary performance. “We have also aligned our resources, instruction and the standards; kind of a total curriculum alignment.”

For Dr. Allen, the grades are another sign that the direction the school has taken in the past few years is working out for the best.

“A lot of the things that have been put into place in the last few years are taking great effect and producing great results,” Allen said. “It is something that doesn’t happen overnight.”