Verde Valley Schools Earn Mostly B Grades in A-F Ratings
Arizona's 2025-2026 A-F School Letter Grade ratings show several Verde Valley schools holding steady or improving.
Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Secondary Education
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Arizona released its 2025-2026 A-F School Letter Grade Accountability System ratings, and local districts in the Verde Valley reacted to their schools' grades. Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District's four K-8 schools all earned B ratings, while Clarkdale-Jerome School rose from a B to an A.
Why it matters
The letter grades give Arizona families a standardized snapshot of school performance across the Verde Valley and the state. Improvements at schools such as The Beaver Creek School and Camp Verde's elementary school show how individual campuses can move up the scale year to year.
The ratings come from Arizona's A-F School Letter Grade Accountability System, which assigns each school a letter grade for the 2025-2026 year. Clarkdale-Jerome's rise from B to A and The Beaver Creek School's rise from C to B are the largest single-year movements reported, while the statewide comparison for these grades was not provided.
The players
Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District
A public school district in Cottonwood, Arizona, serving K-8 students across several campuses in the Verde Valley.
Camp Verde Unified School District
A public school district in Camp Verde, Arizona, operating elementary, middle, and high schools in the Verde Valley.
Clarkdale-Jerome School
A public school serving Clarkdale and Jerome, Arizona, which adopted a new English-language arts curriculum three years ago.
Mingus Union High School
A public high school in Cottonwood, Arizona, which earned a B rating matching its prior-year grade.
The Beaver Creek School
A public school in the Beaver Creek area of Arizona that improved from a C to a B rating this year.
The details
Cottonwood Community School earned a B after a B last year, showing strong academic growth and English learner achievement. Clarkdale-Jerome School attributed its improvement to a collaborative school culture, high teacher retention, and an effective Governing Board, three years after adopting a new English-language arts curriculum and intervention program.
Timeline
FY2025: Camp Verde schools received prior-year grades of C for elementary and middle schools and B for the high school.
Three years ago: Clarkdale-Jerome adopted its new English-language arts curriculum, benchmarking system, and intervention program.
2025-2026: Arizona issued the current A-F School Letter Grade ratings.
Earlier this month: Cottonwood-Oak Creek's superintendent issued a press release on the district's B ratings.
Seasonal Patterns
The 2025-2026 ratings continue Arizona's A-F School Letter Grade Accountability System, which assigns letter grades to each school on an annual cycle. Year-over-year changes at Verde Valley schools, such as Clarkdale-Jerome's move from B to A, can be read against the prior-year grades the same system produced.
Families in the Verde Valley can use the letter grades to compare their local K-8 and high schools with prior-year results. Parents weighing enrollment decisions can check whether a school's grade has risen, held steady, or declined under the current A-F system.
The takeaway
Year-over-year letter grade changes give a clearer picture of school progress than a single rating. Checking both the current grade and the prior year's grade helps families see whether a school is improving.
Further reading
Explore more on Secondary Education for context on how Arizona schools are measured and reported.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Verde Independent.
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