The Big Picture

When deciding which private school to attend, other considerations should factor into your ultimate decision—like location, for one. You may be partial to one particular school, but what if that school is 45 minute drive away from your house? Or from the school your other children attend.

Also, how does your child feel about wearing a uniform? Some find the idea confining; others find it liberating. Traditionally, most parochial schools in the Valley require uniforms or at least enforce strict dress codes, whereas independent schools do not.

Another factor is cost. Private school tuition in our area ranges from $9,000 to $21,000 per year, though parents can look to mitigate costs with scholarships and financial aid. Kristie Berg, assistant director of admissions at Phoenix Country Day School, says, “We spend more than 1.3 million dollars in financial aid. We have over 100 students that receive financial aid—some a significant amount of financial aid, and some just a little bit to help them bridge the gap.”

For some, though, the cost is worth it. Private school devotees feel their child receives more individualized attention in that environment, and generally (although not always), they’re right. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), teachers in traditional public secondary schools average approximately 23 students per class; in private secondary schools, this figure hovers closer to 20. Phoenix Country Day School has the lowest student-to-teacher ratio in the Valley (9 to 1), half the national private school rate.

Nigel Taplin, the head of school at Tesseract, says that parents, in addition to reading a school’s mission statement, should first and foremost, visit a prospective school. “They need to take a long hard look at the energy level—you know, the happiness of the children. If they’re walking into a school where the students are smiling, they’re interacting, they’re collaborating with each other and openly and freely with the educators, those are telltale signs. So if that is going on in a school, it means that you’ve probably got a pretty good institution.”