This Copper Apple Award is for Santa Maria Middle School for their hard work, effort, collaboration, progress, and achievement this last school year.  After the 2023-2024 school year, Santa Maria MS had a low C (60%) letter grade as a school.  By implementing clear goals, expectations, best instructional practices, and strong protocols around collaboration, student achievement has increased and moved their letter grade to a strong B (75.37%) for the 2024-2025 school year. There were many observable strengths and areas of progress during this past school year starting with the principal, Ms. Sanchez, who is hard-working, reflective, humble, professional, kind, personable, knowledgeable, open to feedback, and deeply committed to the work of professional learning communities.

Benchmark Data throughout the year showed gains in ELA and Math in multiple grade levels with marked increases in the number of students who fall into the Proficient and Highly Proficient categories when compared to the first two Benchmarks.  Their focus on ensuring that all classroom teachers posted daily Learning Targets that were visible, tied to essential standards, in kid-friendly language, and referenced throughout the lesson paid off throughout the year.  One seemingly minor, but truly important, tangible, and observable growth/strength was their PLC room.

Ms. Sanchez worked with her team to clear this room out of old furniture, equipment, supplies, etc., and turned it into a true meeting room where colleagues sit around a table, face one another, and engage in meaningful conversations around instruction and student data.  Prior, they were in rows with their backs to one another, and collaboration was inhibited.

Santa Maria’s other Project Momentum Goal was focused on implementation and use of frequent common formative assessments which they excelled in.  Content grade level teams administered CFAs at least once every two weeks and then used that data to inform instruction and determine necessary interventions.  Santa Maria staff also put solid plans in place for interventions leading up to the AASA and ensured that students (and parents) were informed, prepared, and eager to do their best when taking their exams. The entire school staff should be proud of their efforts in ensuring that student achievement and growth were always at the center of their discussions and efforts. The jump in scores and their overall letter grade was a reflection of their great work.

The Arizona Department of Education is proud to celebrate Nikolaus Homestead Elementary School for their fantastic job of improving school culture and raising achievement. Since filling the role of principal two years ago, Chris Jones has set to work on improving the climate and culture of the building. The school's enrollment increased for the 2025-26 school year and most impressively, chronic absenteeism overall dropped from 27.6% to 8.5%. Parents are very happy with the changes, and the school is a much better place for their students to attend.

In terms of academics, the school has made significant gains. Data shows improvement in reading and math with growth between 8 and 30 points from the FY24 to the FY25 assessment across grades 3-5.

For students with disabilities, scores saw a jump from 20.89 to 25.89 on the AASA which allowed the school to exit federal identification for CSI-T and also 19 points in growth combined math and ELA from 2024 to 2025. While students with disabilities showed exceptional growth, most of the other subgroups also demonstrated good levels of growth. 

A pride point for the school is that it earned an A letter grade in fall of 2025. It has taken the hard work and dedication of the school staff to improve the climate and culture while raising the academic expectations including building the systems to improve instructional practices that shift the focus to learning.

Mayer Elementary School is currently identified for Comprehensive Support and Improvement-Targeted (CSI-T). While Principal Phyllis Yazzie has only led the school for two years, she has worked hard with the instructional coach to implement changes that are already paying off. 

One of the key changes that has been made is to refine behavioral and academic expectations. With the support of the principal and instructional coach, teachers are working together as a coherent team to improve instructional practices. Teachers are coached in beneficial practices, then given walkthroughs that give real-time feedback through affirmation as well as possible avenues for improvement.    

Data is graphed and shared frequently with staff so they can work toward maintaining high levels of performance.
For students, learning standards are posted along with success criteria so that students have a clear goal for success.
These changes have greatly increased the atmosphere of the school to become more positive, which has increased attendance among both staff and students. Chronic absenteeism has decreased from 32.5% to 6.7%. ADE is proud to recognize these early signs of hard work paying off and are excited for what the future holds. 

Mammoth-San Manuel Unified District serves fewer than 400 kids across its K-12 system. Prior to being in Project Momentum, they had limited access to professional development. Through their collaboration with Project Momentum, they have received professional development in instructional strategies, implemented new collaborative teams, and began measuring results through the Navvy system. This collaboration and hard work have put these dedicated educators on a common playing field with larger, more urban school districts.

Prior to implementation, there was low student engagement, minimal collaborative teamwork, an unaligned assessment system, and no evidence of Learning Targets or Success Criteria. There is now evidence of all of these being implemented and having an impact on students.    

During their first year in Project Momentum, the Superintendent functioned as the superintendent, principal of all three schools, and the agriculture teacher. With support from Project Momentum, a new principal has been developed to support from within the school which has increased efficiency and effectiveness. 

Overall, Mammoth-San Manuel’s cooperation and initiative have facilitated implementation of many necessary components that have led to great improvement. They have proven that instructional practices and systems can be effective in any size or system if implemented with fidelity. 

Indian Oasis Intermediate School has shown great improvement over the last two years.  In 2023, IOI had a ‘D’ letter grade and was identified as CSI-Low Achievement and aTSI. This year they have exited all federal identifications and have received a ‘B’ letter grade for the 2024-2025 school year.  

The school has welcomed training from Ron Clark Academy, Project Elevate, Kagan and AVID. Administrators and faculty at the school and district have incorporated components from these trainings to build their unique school culture which has been very effective including doubling AASA proficiency rates in the last two years. The school is continuing to grow with a focus on data analysis and professional learning communities.
 

The Arizona Department of Education is pleased to award Ganado High School the first ever Copper Apple Award. The Copper Apple is given to schools that exhibit Excellence in Action through outstanding improvements in performance and letter grade. 

Ganado High School is projected to raise its letter grade from D to B, reflecting notable academic growth. Key areas of growth include an increase in students scoring 19 or higher on the ACT, and a rise in proficiency rates—from 7 to 17.5 in ELA and from 5 to 16 in math. The number of partially proficient tests also grew from 31 to 43. These gains were achieved through the support of the school improvement specialist, the principal’s leadership in data-driven instruction, goal setting, and strategic test preparation. Staff are energized by the results and are ready to build on this momentum during the 25-26 school year. 
 

Echo Mountain Intermediate School from Paradise Valley Unified School District is nominated based on their steady improvements in Project Momentum over the past three and a half years, resulting in exiting from CSI and ongoing student learning growth. Echo Mountain has become a model in the way it has systematically implemented strong Tier 1 instructional practices.

In a recent visit, 100% of classrooms had learning targets in place, and there was active student learning with student-to-student collaboration. Exit tickets were used to guide the use of small groups and adjustments to instruction.  In addition, teachers across each grade level were on pace with each other while teaching with their lessons.

Echo Mountain has developed an exemplary approach to collaborative teams.  They have a solid agenda that supports focusing on data to guide instruction, planning for upcoming learning through unpacking standards, and planning high-quality instructional strategies and assessments to monitor student learning.  Their 4th grade team is a model for the way a team should run.

Echo Mountain’s dedication to the work of Project Momentum, their outstanding results and their exemplary practices has led to other schools visiting to see what they have put into place. For all of these reasons noted above, they are highly deserving of this Copper Apple award.  

After the 2022-2023 school year, Deer Valley MS had a D (56.09%) letter grade as a school. By implementing clear goals, expectations, best instructional practices, and strong protocols around collaboration, their letter grade increased to a strong C (63.78%) for the 2023-2024 school year, and then high C (71.05%) for the 2024-2025 school year.  

There are many areas where Deer Valley has demonstrated success and growth over the last several years. Their focus on ensuring that all classroom teachers post daily Learning Targets that are visible, tied to essential standards, annotated, closely tied to the lesson of the day, in kid-friendly language, and referenced throughout the lesson has become an established practice at Deer Valley Middle School. Deer Valley has also focused on implementation and use of frequent common formative assessments. Content grade level teams administer CFAs on a frequent basis and then use that data to inform instruction and determine necessary interventions.    

In addition, Deer Valley MS has implemented a common agenda for all PLC meetings so that there is consistency, clarity, and accountability for what teams should be planning, discussing, and implementing during their time together.  Solid plans are put in place for interventions leading up to the AASA to ensure that students (and parents) are informed, prepared, and eager to do their best when taking their exams. A common intervention tracking tool was put in place to support this particular goal. 

The entire school staff should be proud of their efforts in ensuring that student achievement and growth were always at the center of their discussions and efforts. The jump in scores and their overall letter grade has been a reflection of their collective dedication, care, and hard work they provide for the students they serve.

The Arizona Department of Education is pleased to honor Washington School in the Winslow Unified School District with the Copper Apple Award. 

Washington School has exhibited excellence in action with the school raising its state letter grade from 66.56 points, a C in 2024-2025 to a 80.96 points, a B in 2025-2026. In addition, the school was federally identified in 2022 for Comprehensive Support and Improvement – Targeted or CSI-T with 19.65 points for their Students with Disabilities (SWD) subgroup. They have now exited federal identification with a noteworthy jump to 27.62 points earned. 

With Principal Amanda Leonard at the helm, the remarkable special education teachers have been diligently collaborating with the dedicated general education teachers and staff to prioritize ALL students’ diverse needs and learning. 

Even though Washington School exited, they are committed to strengthening Tier 1 instruction and data literacy through intentional collaboration to use data to drive decisions. With a sustained focus on their SWD special population, the Washington School educators keep building momentum to grow their scholars this year and beyond.

Congratulations, Bulldogs! 

Amphitheater Public Schools has done some great work using their Gifted program evaluation to positively impact their gifted program and students in general. Vanessa Hill, the Gifted Education Coordinator, and team has re-imagined the gifted program to be more responsive to the gifted learners serviced. Through program evaluation, she recognized that more gifted learners had general intellectual ability strengths expressed through nonverbal (visual and spatial) reasoning. Many of these learners were having a tough time within the gifted program. They made some small changes to the program that yielded big results. 

With the support of their Associate Superintendent for Elementary Education, Tassi Call, Amphitheater piloted the “Stretch or Support” games for third graders at 5 elementary schools. Based on research by Riverside, students play selected games for 30 minutes per week geared to the relative strengths and weaknesses of students as identified in the CogAT Universal gifted identification test. Students played SOS! Games such as Apples-to-Apples and SET Jr. and saw increased math and ELA scores. Their results led them to expand the program to eight schools the following year.

In high school, they created REACH honors English to increase the number of identified gifted learners taking Honors ELA courses and to meet the needs of the spatially gifted learners by incorporative film and media as literature and instructional strategies. This is a strengths-based approach backed by research. As a result, more identified gifted learners chose to take an Honors level English class. In 2 years, they found that students taking REACH Honors English were achieving on par with or at a higher level than students who took traditional Honors and at a much higher level than students taking on level English as measured on the NWEA ELA MAP and the ACT. 

Amphitheater Public Schools is demonstrating remarkable leadership by using program evaluation results to guide thoughtful risk taking and implement new evidence based practices for gifted students, a population that is frequently overlooked in many systems.

Amphitheater Public Schools is demonstrating remarkable leadership by using program evaluation results to guide thoughtful risk taking and implement new evidence based practices for gifted students, a population that is frequently overlooked in many systems.