Education - Education & Child Care

There’s much to praise about higher education in the Phoenix area: the ever-improving Arizona State University, one of the largest community college systems in the nation, and private schools whose fame reaches beyond Arizona’s borders. In comparison, though, the Valley’s public school system is not as dynamic as it could or should be for such a large metropolitan area. Those who rank livable cities say Phoenix’s public school system is part of the reason the city doesn’t make it to the top echelon. The question is why we don’t perform better. Some have suggested that heavier reliance on high-performing charter schools and private schools might ease that burden. For now, Arizona sits at an educational crossroad as legislators search for a promising path.

If you talk with Phoenix area residents with young children, you’ll find that many of them shop for school districts as much as they do for real estate when they are ready to move into new homes.

In this chapter we start our list of educational facilities with public and private universities, including Arizona State University, which for many years was considered a distant afterthought to the University of Arizona in Tucson as far as overall education. Some would argue that the two schools are now about equal.

Education opportunities also trickle down to the youngest of Arizonans. The Valley of the Sun has a number of outstanding preschool programs, including ones endorsed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Montessori programs, and parent-cooperative programs. See the Child Care section of this chapter for important phone numbers, as well as information on finding babysitters, nannies, and child care centers.