GLENDALE

Top 10 charter schools in the West Valley

Jackee Coe
The Republic | azcentral.com
Classroom.

The West Valley is home to two of the Phoenix area's top-scoring charter schools, including the top-ranked charter school in Maricopa County, according to school-performance scores from the Arizona Department of Education.

Crown Charter School, a K-6 school near Litchfield Park, teaches first-graders how to do double-digit multiplication and division, teaches students advanced technology skills and enables them to interact with programs and scientific experiments through its connection with NASA, according to the school's website.

School leaders encourage teachers to use innovative teaching methods, including relay races to the front of the room to answer questions, working on multiplication to rock 'n' roll music and playing games to help students grasp concepts, Director James Shade said. Teachers also often stay after school to help students in areas where they are struggling.

RELATED: West Valley's top-scoring schools

The school's methods appear to be working, as it was ranked higher than every other charter school in the Valley and second-highest in Arizona on state report cards released last month by the education department.

The high score was validation for the methods and the teachers' hard work, Shade said.

"The ranking is wonderful. I feel like it's just a springboard for us to get better," he said. "Our teachers feel real good about it and they want to keep doing well and even do better, so we just have to keep improving every day."

Many West Valley charter schools earned high marks. Several aced the Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards test and earned "A" letter grades from the department, which determines the grades based on several factors.

Schools' letter grades largely are based on student scores on the AIMS tests, given in April every year. Half the letter grade is based on how much students improve, including the lowest performers. The grades also consider progress in reducing the number of dropouts and moving non-English speakers toward regular classes.

Though Crown earned the highest score, several charter schools in the West Valley also ranked high. The schools vary in size and specialty programs, but all teach advanced, college-preparatory curricula and teachers make the time to focus on the needs of individual students, officials said.

Paradise Honors High School in Surprise offers support classes before school and tutoring time after school where students can get extra help from teachers.

"We look at each individual student," said Tim Gonzales, executive director of Paradise Schools. "We look at where their weaknesses are and where their strengths (are) and then try to definitely target those weaknesses to build them to strengths so they're just really well-rounded."

Several charters also offer advanced curricula that puts students a year ahead.

BASIS Peoria, a 5-12 grade school, is built around a "really rigorous curriculum," beginning with its 5th graders to prepare them for the AP, or advanced placement, courses students take in 8th through 12th grade, Head of School Jeremiah Hakundy said. Seniors also complete thesis projects similar to college graduate students.

"The rigor of BASIS in general really prepares the students to achieve in so many different ways, depending on any sort of metric that you want to place on the learning," Hakundy said.

It also creates an "intentional learning environment" where teachers, staff and students "support each other as learners," he added.

"For the students, it translates into a place where it's cool to be smart," Hakundy said. "For the teachers and the staff, it translates into place where you can really challenge yourself and your students and you are encouraged to do that at all levels."

Charter schools are free, though many charge various fees, and require an application or registration during open enrollment dates.

These are the top-scoring charter schools in the West Valley, according to the education department's school-ranking system.

Republic reporter Cathy Creno contributed to this report.

Top charter schools in the West Valley

10. Incito Schools

Incito Schools

Enrollment: 274, Grades K-8.

Location: 877 N. Sarival Avenue, Goodyear.

Score: 149 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission: "Incito Schools will establish a standard for educational excellence, where all students achieve their potential and collaboratively contribute to our local and global communities. Incito Schools will provide a rigorous, relevant, college preparatory environment to ensure that all students have meaningful options for life and succeed."

9. Glendale Preparatory Academy, a Great Hearts Academy

Glendale Preparatory Academy

Enrollment: 460, Grades 6-12.

Location: 23276 N. 83rd Avenue, Suite 1, Peoria.

Score: 149 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "The mission of Great Hearts Academies is to create a network of academically rigorous, classical, liberal arts primary, middle and high schools in the Phoenix metropolitan area. This network will prepare its graduates for success in the most highly selective colleges and universities in the nation, and to be leaders in creating a more philosophical, humane and just society. Great Hearts' public academies surpass the best public and private school options in academic outcomes, student moral formation and comprehensive extra-curricular participation.

"The ultimate goal of the organization is to graduate 'great-hearted' young men and women who possess a sense of destiny and purpose that is directed to the service of the greater good. By engaging in an intense and formative dialogue with the Great Books and Ideas of Western Culture, by conversing with peers and teachers who also seek the truth, students come to understand more fully what it means to be a human being."

8. BASIS Peoria

Basis Peoria

Enrollment: 746, Grades 5-12.

Location: 25950 N. Lake Pleasant Parkway, Peoria.

Score: 152 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "The mission of BASIS.ed is to raise the standards of American education to the highest international levels. BASIS Schools provide an accelerated, liberal arts education at internationally competitive levels for all students. The rigorous, college preparatory education equips students for the competitive college admissions process, helps them become eligible for scholarships, prepares them to prosper at top colleges and enriches their lives."

7. Paradise Honors High School

Paradise Honors High School

Enrollment: 470, Grades 9-12.

Location: 12775 N. 175th Avenue, Surprise.

Score: 152 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "Paradise Schools: A safe learning community committed to fostering personal growth and academic excellence."

6. Happy Valley School

Happy Valley School

Enrollment: 760, Grades K-6.

Location: 7140 W. Happy Valley Road, Peoria.

Score: 158 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "Our commitment is to provide children with an outstanding academic foundation. We are dedicated to significantly improving student achievement in the basic skills of reading, writing and math. We also strive to model and instill in the children entrusted to our care the qualities of self-discipline, exemplary character, leadership skills, patriotism and a strong academic work ethic."

5. Challenge Charter School

Challenge Charter School

Enrollment: 580, Grades K-6.

Location: 5801 W. Greenbriar Drive, Glendale.

Score: 164 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "Challenge Charter School will provide a sound educational environment grounded in the fundamental skills of a hands-on, science-oriented, academic core curriculum. The environment is structured to optimize each student's opportunities so that all students can acquire a first-class education that will prepare them to be successful in the lifelong learning process. Schools should be expected to create a structure that provides more consistency for students in person, place and more time on task."

4. Legacy Traditional School

Legacy Traditional School

Enrollment: 1,015, K-8.

Location: 12320 W. Van Buren Street, Avondale.

Score: 165 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "Legacy Traditional School's mission is to provide motivated students with the opportunity to achieve academic excellence in an accelerated, back-to-basics, safe learning environment taught by caring and knowledgeable educators in cooperation with supportive, involved parents."

3. Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center – Estrella Mountain High School

AAEC Estrella Mountain

Enrollment: 456, 9-12.

Location: 3400 N. Dysart Road, Avondale.

Score: 165 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "AAEC Early College High School prepares young adults for success now and in the future by promoting lifelong learning through rigorous academic instruction, promoting social responsibility and employability, and providing motivated students with the opportunity to earn college credits while completing their high school requirements."

2. Candeo Schools

Candeo

Enrollment: 578, Grades K-8.

Location: 9965 W. Calle Lejos, Peoria.

Score: 169 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission statement: "We grow brilliance in students and staff by nurturing natural curiosity, gifts and talents, and the power to learn. We provide academic rigor, a healthy environment and a strong belief in potential. We develop confident learners, creative and critical thinkers and contributing members of communities."

1. Crown Charter School

Crown Charter School

Enrollment: 500, Grades K-6.

Location: 12450 W. Maryland, Ave., Litchfield Park.

Score: 179 out of 200.

Grade: A.

School mission: "To provide a highly successful educational experience to all students by implementing a 'Great Beginnings' program to students, K through 6th grade, that inspires the student to be a lifelong learner through our energized classroom lessons filled with positive reinforcement and innovation."