It's a pretty decent high school. The mascot is the Firebird. Size is about 2,000. Football team is…read moreconsistently above average, and there are a decent number of AP courses. There are a wide spread of clubs, and it's relatively easy to create a new one. Like all schools, some teachers are obviously much better than others. Recently the campus has been renovated. Looks brand new, but from the outside it's pretty unfriendly. This is a public school within the SUSD, and recently allowed open enrollment. At the time of this writing, the admistration is undergoing changes, so not much is known for the future of Chaparral. There are enough opportunities at Chaparral to create your future, with as much success as scholar or athlete as you desire.

Don't send your kid to this terrible school. Administration and leadership are absolute jokes, the…read moreteachers are incompetent and bitter, and the school is poorly run.

Rancho Solano:…read more Incredible teachers. Caring staff. Great kids and families. Between foreign exchange students, and our own children, we have sent all of our "kids" to 5 different high schools in Scottsdale. Public, charter, and private. Several have been great, but Rancho Solano high school has been OUTSTANDING! By far the best decision we have ever made for our children's education. The teachers are engaging, highly educated, and compassionate. They make class fun, and encourage CRITICAL THINKING! And let's be honest in a world where everyone sees what their favorite influencer or political party says first, raising a child who is supported for their independent, critical thinking skills is a breath of fresh air. Lots of families of the students are in medical. Yet the kids are 50/50 when it comes to the educational track they are pursuing. 1/2 are STEM, and the other 1/2 are focused on more creative fields. Rancho Solano is incredibly supportive for both tracks. Our son who always thought he was more science minded, thrived in creative writing. He is even considering that as his minor in college. In regards to college, a friend told me this: You either pay for high school, or you pay for college. And thankfully there are currently state tax savings programs that contribute to your child's private school tuition - so there are no excuses. You CAN send your child to an excelling school like Rancho. Our investment in our son's private school education payed 2x more in college scholarships that he was offered! (He was offered 6 figures in college scholarships!) Our other kids didn't receive anywhere near the same number of college scholarships after attending other high schools - which made paying for their college much harder for us (and them). Rancho even has a staff member whose job is to help your child get into the best colleges for them! We fully believe Rancho Solano saved our son's life - and gave him a reason to excel. He's perusing an educational track above and beyond what we expected of him (and we expected a lot). He says some of the best friends he made at Rancho are the teachers. He felt like his voice mattered. And he THRIVED there. You will hear me support ALL of our state's teachers because they are all doing the best that they can with the resources they have. And I will also tell you that the teachers at Rancho Solano are BEYOND! They reignited my son's love of learning after school burnout from other schools. And the administration took time to meet with me, listened to my concerns, and they TOOK ACTION to make things better. That never would have happened in a large school. Incredibly grateful for Rancho Solano and everyone there.

The male staff members essentially have a strange sort of fraternity bond with one another. There's…read morea lot of picking and choosing who gets protected despite ongoing allegations and who gets fired for merely questioning certain rules. Mr. Brown, I'm very disappointed in you. When 10+ girls go to the counselor about the same teacher for years, how can you brush it all off? You can keep removing my reviews but everyone knows what kind of man the economics teacher is. No matter how many disturbed female employees you fire, you can't keep the truth hidden. People talk. It's very shameful what men will defend other men for, especially when it comes to the safety, mental health, and comfort of your young female students that you are supposed to protect. Credentials: I went there for 5 years

Parents of girls, please be aware…read more In our experience, our daughter reported behavior by a teacher that made her uncomfortable and that we believed was inappropriate. We brought these concerns to the school administration. We were deeply disappointed by how the situation was handled. Shawn Bell did not take action in a way we felt protected our daughter or addressed similar concerns raised by other students. To our knowledge, the teacher remained employed at the time we withdrew our children. Because of this experience and the school's response, our family chose not to continue enrollment.

Despite everything there is in this school such as: safety, learning, and neatness, there is one…read moreparticular problem in this school, and that's the 7th grade spanish teacher. Reason one, all she does to "teach" is give formatives and notes to put in your black notebook and corrections in your colored notebook. This may sound ok, but once you submit a formative you can see the answer and what you got wrong. I am saying this because the kids are forced to write the corrections of what they got wrong, and it's boring, depressing, and they are just not learning anything. Second reason, whenever you can't figure something out it's common sense that you ask the teacher for help. Well if you ask for help for this specific teacher she will only say, "figure it out," or "ask people around you," even though she is the teacher and is the one who should be helping and trying at her job. Third reason, at the beginning of the semester you are given at least one and half weeks to get a very special and specific BLACK COMPOSITION NOTEBOOK. This is very annoying, and unfair because many kids can't either find, afford, or is just busy with their life. She won't allow any other type of notebook. Fourth reason, she also shames kids if they got a answer wrong or forgot something especially simple like their notebook. This is very wrong because what if they got something going on at home. Kids brains are still developing, this teacher thinks she can do whatever she wants to DSMS kids. That was my voice, I hope any body responds with a respectful answer.

I have had three kids go through NDP. All of them had a great high school experience. My daughter,…read morewho now attends a university in lower Manhattan, called me one afternoon well into her first semester, and I asked her, "Now that you have been there a bit how is it going for real? Are the classes difficult? What about the assignments?"  She said, "No, dad, it is pretty easy. I know what they mean now when Notre Dame says they are college prep."  As a parent, I can't imagine a better review, having come directly from the source.

Our family had a horrible experience at this school, and I fear retaliation for even sharing a…read morenegative review but as a parent I suggest that anyone is very careful in learning all the facts before enrolling your students here.

If I could give this school negative stars I would. The way…read moremy daughter and family was treated by her teacher and the staff was nothing short of horrible. My daughter was constantly bullied by her teacher and when I approached the principal | was blown off. The pure lack of biblical understanding is apparent when you attend there. I had to spend the last year helping my daughter heal from the hurtful way she was treated. I expected more from a school that claims to be Christian but this is just another high priced private school that has nothing to do with helping your child to learn more about Christ. Very disappointed to say the least.

What a great school! Scottsdale Christian Academy is truly exceptional in every way. The faculty…read moreand teachers are the best of the best--they work hard to create an outstanding learning environment and genuinely care about each student. Everything they do is marked by excellence, from academics to extracurriculars and spiritual development. As parents, we couldn't be more grateful for the way SCA partners with families in raising kids who love Jesus. The Christ-centered education and intentional discipleship have had a profound impact on our children, not only in their learning but in their faith. They come home excited about what they're learning and growing deeper in their walk with God.

Incompetent self serving administration choosing the easy way for them. Some not flexible or…read morewilling to accommodate documented special student situations. Was optimistic and hopeful, but big disappointment and mistake! Not a good supportive environment for all children!

I enrolled in Rancho Solano for my junior year, and let's just say; it wasn't exactly a caring and…read morefriendly environment. I went to Rancho thinking I would get one of the best educations ever, many reviews (i'm assuming are either payed reviews or the extremely rich parents who's kids lied to them about enjoying it) seemed amazing. However, when I arrived I found all the kids my age to be the most stuck up, snobby, rich kids I had ever met. So extremely out of touch, dimwitted, racist, and tone deaf. I was sitting in study hall when I overheard a group of people gossiping about a senior the previous year who cheated on some very hard/important finals and got caught. The parents allegedly paid the principal an additional 25k (which is the same amount as tuition) to stay quiet about it and let him pass. However, that could easily be untrue and just a rumor (wouldn't be surprised with the amount of liars enrolled). I was in Integrated 2 math class. The absolute worst math teacher EVER had. I was more of a quiet kid, I wanted to keep to myself and not talk to any of the out of touch students there. She would often call me out during break asking why I wasn't with my friends, knowing I had pretty much none (by choice). She was more focused on being a "tough"/"strict"/"intimidating" teacher than a good teacher. I learnt more about her unnecessary classroom rules than about what I needed to pass the class. On the midterm final, I spent 2 weeks studying everything we had learnt throughout the year. We weren't made aware until the week of that we weren't allowed calculators on the test, although we had practiced with calculators the whole year. The final felt like a whole new class, for a moment I thought I was at the wrong final exam when I saw what was on it. The housekeeping of this school is very poorly looked after. It's disgusting, specifically the bathrooms. I can only speak for the girls bathroom, there was always toilets that hadn't been bothered to be flushed. The janitors do not do a good job to clean it up, there would be the same unflushed mess in the same toilets for a week straight. More importantly maybe the adults should teach these kids how to flush a toilet as their maids have been doing it all their lives. I will be calling out another teacher who I thankfully did not have but I did witness doing some strange things to a sophomore girl. We were doing presentations in class and this teacher came in to watch a group of girls who obviously he gets along with and has for a class. I always think it's a little strange whenever teachers and students have oddly close or even flirty relationships with one another. I didn't think too much of it until out of nowhere one of the girls screams bursting out of laughter. This 35+ man was tickling a 15 year old girls waist. Absolutely disgusting and predatory behavior. I won't be saying names but all I know is that he teaches science classes. They always emphasized how strict their rules were about dress code. About how skirts should be 4 inches from the middle of the knee, most girls were walking around with their underwear visible and nobody batted an eye. This place does not deserve to be ranked #2 in Arizona's private schools. Disgusting, sloppy, shady, and overall a complete joke.

This school is in a great location. Some of the teachers are great. They have expanded to include…read morea pre-school.

Our son was not accepted into St. John for kindergarten, fall of 2026, because of his stutter,…read moredespite the fact that he is currently in speech therapy and has made significant improvement. That didn't seem to matter. We felt discriminated against, and it was made worse by how we were treated throughout the process. The parish office staff were rude and cold every time we reached out, and Leticia was no different. Leticia told me the reason my son was not accepted was because at five years old he cannot follow two-step commands. I had my son evaluated shortly after, and he passed with flying colors. So this was either a lie or a convenient excuse, and either way, it's unacceptable. We tried to be part of this community, and instead we were met with indifference. What makes this even harder to accept is that my mother worked closely with your current principal and assistant principal, as well as other staff members there, including the librarian, back when they were all at Notre Dame together. My mother was a dedicated counselor who gave her all to that school and her colleagues, working countless late nights over the years. Given those ties, we genuinely hoped for a different outcome and a warmer welcome, not just from the school but from the broader St. John and Saint Bernadette family. Instead, Leticia seemed almost annoyed when my mother joined me for the open house walk-through and stopped to chat with staff. On top of that, Leticia forgot she even had an appointment scheduled with us. It was, overall, a genuinely terrible experience. We've since seen other reviews online echoing similar concerns, which tells us this wasn't an isolated incident. In hindsight, perhaps this was a blessing in disguise. A parish should be a place where families feel supported, not dismissed, and we are leaving disappointed and, honestly, hurt that it came to this. A piece of advice: I would look closely at Leticia, as she is the face of your school, and for us, she ended up dictating the parish we chose.

Our family spent two years at this school with both of our children enrolled. During that time, we…read moregave our full support -- volunteering, donating, serving as class mom, and even participating on the board of the school's charitable organization. We genuinely believed we were part of a strong, supportive community. Unfortunately, our experience took an unexpected and very difficult turn -- one that left our children deeply impacted and us, as parents, scrambling. Before winter break, we were approached by Jennifer Sherer, who suggested we consider providing an aide for our son to help with both English and Spanish in the classroom. We were told this was not required -- simply a supportive option. When we agreed to explore it, we were surprised to learn the cost would be $750 per day, amounting to roughly $3,000 per month. While we expressed concern about the cost and necessity, we were told that was the rate, so we continued, trusting the school's guidance. As class mom, I was frequently present in the classroom and soon noticed troubling changes: our son had been moved to the back of the room, seated alone with the aide. He began withdrawing at home, becoming more isolated and quiet. He shared that he didn't feel safe, that the aide was unkind, and he was being treated differently -- even teased -- by classmates. We voiced these concerns to Principal Jason Smith and Jennifer Sherer, asking to revisit the arrangement. We explained that we believed the aide's constant presence was negatively impacting our child's emotional and social well-being. Our son was not failing academically and had no diagnosis requiring special intervention -- this support had been positioned as optional. After three months of trying to work through this, we formally requested to remove the aide and asked to meet or interview the individual we had been paying thousands of dollars for. We were told we were not allowed to meet them, as the aide was a school employee. (This raised major concerns for us about the financial structure and accountability of the arrangement.) We also asked for any documentation showing how the aide had been helpful. Instead of receiving answers, we were informed that the aide was now required for our son's continued enrollment -- and that he would not be permitted to return after winter break unless the aide remained in place (at our cost). We respectfully pushed back, stating that we could not continue paying for a support role we believed was doing more harm than good, and that the school should follow appropriate procedures and ADA compliance as required of private non-denominational institutions. We asked for an opportunity to finish out the final 10 weeks of the school year without the aide. Principal Jason Smith responded by immediately dismissing both of our children from the school. No warning. No transitional plan. Just an email notifying us that our kids were no longer allowed to return. This decision was made just days before school was set to resume -- leaving us completely blindsided, heartbroken, and scrambling to find alternative schooling with enrollment already closed in many places. Our younger child, who was not even involved in the aide situation, was removed as well. We are still in disbelief that a school -- and leadership -- we once trusted could take such a drastic action without regard for the emotional toll it would have on our children. We are sharing this not out of anger, but as a warning. If your child has unique learning needs, or if you expect transparency and partnership from school leadership, we urge you to ask difficult questions before enrolling. Names you should know: Principal Jason Smith and Jennifer Sherer. We have documentation of everything mentioned above and are open to speaking with any parents who want more details. Please think twice.

Good Start, Rocky Finish - 9 Years of Experience…read more I've been at this school for 9 years, so I've seen it from every angle--especially how things shift as you move from lower to middle school. Im writing this from my point of view since ive been at ISA for 9 whole years. The lower school is truly the heart of this place. The teachers are caring, the community is strong, and the environment is perfect for younger students. You feel supported, safe, and excited to learn. It's where I built my confidence and love for school. Unfortunately, things change in middle school--and not always for the better. Academically, it's fine, but the overall experience doesn't feel as structured or supportive. What stood out most was the lack of real consequences. Students would break rules or act out, and nothing would happen. It sometimes felt like the people trying to do the right thing got overlooked while others just... got away with it. That made the environment frustrating and unfair at times. Im not gonna name names... but the directors and the principal of the school COULD'VE and SHOULD'VE done better at their jobs as directors of the school and helped out when the students needed it most. Overall: Keep in mind, not everyones expirience is the same at ISA but this is just what i thought. I'm "thankful" for the strong foundation the lower school gave me, but I wish the middle school had followed through with the same care, consistency, and accountability. The teachers were good for middle school, not the directors or principal. If you're thinking about this school for younger grades--go for it. But for middle school, I don't recommend, but if you do, get ready for some challenges and a lot of rule-bending that doesn't get addressed.