Private vs. public vs. charter schools- E. Valley (Mesa, Chandler: how much, school districts)

[breakingbad]

I am moving back to the PHX area from Houston...I have a 5 year old child and would like to know how people feel about the charter school system in the Ahwatukee/Chandler/Gilbert area? Are there any really good private Christian schools in those areas? Are there any public schools that are academically challenging?

[BuckeyeBoyDJ]

There really is no need to enroll your kids into charter or private schools in the East Valley. The public schools in Ahwatukee, Chandler, and Gilbert are well regarded. The Kyrene School District in Ahwatukee and West Chandler is by far one of the best districts in Arizona. Schools are great. Teachers are great. Curriculum challenges students. Chandler unified is also well respected but not as good as Kyrene IMO. Gilbert Public Schools are well respected and I hear great things! If you do choose Charter schools I hear great things about Montessori schools in Ahwatukee/Chandler.

[Southern Phoenician]

Most Chandler public schools are considered excellent but there are pockets of schools that are not so great. Tempe and Gilbert would likely have the issue. A great resource for school information is the greatschools.org website. I used that website to narrow down my search when relocating here 2 years ago from Austin.

There are many education options here, especially with the number of charter schools. You need to define your child's education needs and your own expectations and go from there. Some charter schools are highly academic (and hard to get into) - Basis is one example (google it... ). Some charter schools teach the "back to basics methodology", which works great for some kids but not all. Some charter schools are focusing on classical arts and do not teach any technology but are highly academic and kids graduating from these schools are getting into college (a decent % of scholarships). What I have found is there is a small number of charter schools in each community that are considered very popular and usually have a list to get into. My son attends a popular charter school in Chandler -- Bright Beginnings. Many of these schools teach advanced curriculem, have smaller class sizes, and extracurricular activities such as art, music, and foreign language (these were cut from the public school budget). Our son needs a smaller class -- public schools in Chandler have up to 29 kids in each class and that was a huge concern for me.

There are private school options as well, depending on how much you want to spend and how far you want to drive. Most people I know have their kids in public or charter schools.

Hope this helps!

[Southern Phoenician]

Also...one private school in Chandler that I've heard great things about is New Vistas Academy. It's very academic and small. You may want to check them out. Rancho Salano, in Gilbert, has been a popular private school (& expensive) but has been going through some changes and a lot of parents are pulling their kids out and putting them into charter schools.

Also check out Keystone Montessori in Ahwatukee. A friend's kids went there and are doing VERY well in high school (all AP classes, A's, etc).

[PoppySead]

Contact Us - Chandler Christian School (http://www.chandlerchristianschool.org/contact_us.cfm - broken link)
Chandler Christian school is right over the freeway from Awatukee, on the boarder. I heard people like it.

Also there is Horizons in Awatukee for Charter, I hear people like this one as well. It goes through 12th so no need to pull them out.
Horizon Honors Primary School (http://www.horizonclc.org/schools/primary-school - broken link)

Public schools are held to a guideline for how much they can challenge your child. It would all depend how far advanced they were. You can only go so far I believe, especially in the younger grades. Charter is a bit more progressive and private is a lot more progressive. There are e-schools as well. We have a lot of options, nobody should feel lacking in our state, lots of choices.

[Pink Jazz]

One school district that is rather underrated by the public but performs very well is the Higley Unified School District. They were rated and 'A' by the Arizona Department of Education in 2011. Also, they were ranked sixth in performance on Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards standardized tests for the 2011-2012 school year.

[ReadyFreddy]

I'm not in that area, but in Mesa, but I chose the public schools. Mesa has a gifted program (for qualifying students) that is plenty challenging, and Mesa Academy for even more challenge. I had heard charter schools were held to lower standards, in many respects. It's been a while since I explored options, though. I wouldn't pay for private when good/great public options exist. But I'm not a fan of the 'basics/3 R's/rote memorization' emphasis schools. I'd prefer a more arts & tech oriented approach, basically the opposite of the 'basics'. The specialty schools out here seem to favor that 'basics' approach.

[Skywayy2001]

Schools are confusing out here. As you can see, people rave about the public schools...but Arizona is consistently ranked in the very bottom when compared to other states in the US.

[ReadyFreddy]

I don't think you can compare a state to a state. AZ has a lot of reservation land, Spanish speaking immigrants/aliens, rural areas, etc. When you average all of AZ and compare it to say all of Connecticut, it's apples and oranges. It also matters a lot what's being ranked. I see AZ ranked low based on things like "emphasis on science". There are going to be varying emphases. You can't emphasize everything, by definition. Some think $/student or students per teacher are good indicators. I'm not so sure how much you spend or how many teachers you have really says it all. And each school district is different, and each school within it.

[PoppySead]

Originally Posted by ReadyFreddy

I don't think you can compare a state to a state. AZ has a lot of reservation land, Spanish speaking immigrants/aliens, rural areas, etc. When you average all of AZ and compare it to say all of Connecticut, it's apples and oranges. It also matters a lot what's being ranked. I see AZ ranked low based on things like "emphasis on science". There are going to be varying emphases. You can't emphasize everything, by definition. Some think $/student or students per teacher are good indicators. I'm not so sure how much you spend or how many teachers you have really says it all. And each school district is different, and each school within it.

I didn't think the reservations counted in our school districts statistics? I think Charter schools have the same guidelines to meet, they are a public option and still have the same public standards to meet as public school.