Monica is a Diné (Navajo) freelance writer and photographer based in the Southwest. Born in Gallup and raised in Phoenix, she is Tódich'ii'nii (Bitter Water People) and Tsi'naajinii (Black Streak Wood People). Monica is a staff writer for Only In Your State, photo editor for The Mesa Legend, and previously a staff writer for The Navajo Post. You can reach her at monica.d.spencer@gmail.com.
Arizona isn’t particularly well-known for having the best education system. We are frequently the butt of jokes and the leadership in the state’s Department of Education leaves a lot to be desired. However, I can attest that as someone who previously worked in and with public schools, schools make the best situation possible with the resources they are given. So, instead, let’s focus on the positives!
Here are several Arizona cities that have some of the best schools in the state. The data was compiled from School Digger (a database that profiles educational information for parents) and the Best High Schools Ranking from U.S. News in order to create this list. We selected cities with more than two schools and ordered them alphabetically. Check it out!
Although the city’s school district is small enough to not have a high school, it's still one of the top locations for kids in elementary school. Cave Creek was ranked number one on School Digger’s website based on their yearly test scores.
Paradise Valley came in at number seven on the School Digger’s list with three of its schools performing significantly better in exams than other state schools.
Phoenix makes this list because of the number of top performing schools throughout the city. This includes Pinnacle High School (number 11 in the state), Horizon Community Learning Center (ranked number 13), and Thunderbird High School (ranked number 19 in the state).
This tiny community in southeastern Arizona only has three schools but they performed well enough on state exams to be ranked number 12 on School Digger’s website.
Scottsdale ranks as number 11 on the School Digger website so it's no surprise the city also hosts 4 top-25 Arizona high schools. This includes BASIS Scottsdale, which is ranked number 1 in the state and number 2 in the country. Scottsdale also had 3 other schools in the state's top 25 list. Wow!
So, did your city make the list for one of the top locations for amazing schools? Let us know what you thought of the results!
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