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Private Types

The decision to forgo public schools for private ones is often made for religious reasons. “One of the greatest benefits [to private school] is that you can have a religious environment,” says Paula Petrowski, director of admissions at Xavier College Preparatory, a Catholic all-girls school. “Most private schools are faith-based, and that’s probably the greatest reason that most students are here—the fact that they can be in a religious environment and they can discuss faith, and they can have religion be a part of their lives.”

But parents of teens who ascribe to a different religion (or none at all), should not rule out a great school because of its religious affiliation, as long as they’re comfortable. For example, nearly 20 percent of the students who attend Xavier are not Catholic.

For those parents who are uncomfortable with an integrated religious education but still desire the benefits of a rigorous college-prep program, the Valley has two highly regarded non-parochial options at the high school level. The independent school of choice has long been the renowned Phoenix Country Day School in Paradise Valley. But as of fall 2008, Tesseract Upper School will begin teaching its first freshman class at its brand-new campus in Phoenix. By 2011, the school will be a full house—educating students in ninth through twelfth grades.