Original Research by School Decision on Friendly House Inc. (4303)
Friendly House Inc. is a small Arizona school district serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It operates a single school, Friendly House Academia Del Pueblo Elementary, in Maricopa County. The district has no high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. State testing data is available but is reported in a way that limits what can be said about academic performance. For the 2024-25 school year, proficiency rates in both English language arts and math were suppressed for every tested grade, meaning the state did not publish exact figures, likely due to the small number of students tested. The district’s multi-year academic trends show composite proficiency rates in the low teens for both subjects, which places it well below typical district performance across the county. A parent may want to discuss the school’s academic approach and curriculum directly with the school to get a fuller picture of student learning than the available state data provides.
The student body is small and overwhelmingly Hispanic, with nearly all students identifying as such. The remainder of the student population is made up of small numbers of Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and White students, with no Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or two-or-more-races students reported. Free or reduced-price lunch data was not available, and counts for students with disabilities and English learners were also missing from the data provided. The chronic absenteeism rate, however, is elevated. Compared to other districts in Maricopa County, Friendly House Inc. falls in the bottom quartile for chronic absenteeism, a metric that measures the share of students missing a substantial number of school days. This is a soft spot a prospective family may want to explore further with the school.
On the financial side, the district’s per-pupil current spending is in the upper range when compared to other Maricopa County districts. This suggests a relatively higher level of investment per student, though the data does not specify how those funds are allocated.
The district operates as a single-school entity, and the school’s location was not specified in the available data. The district brief, drawn from publicly reported information, found no recent curriculum changes, referendums, property tax initiatives, or pedagogical shifts that would amount to a lasting impact. In short, Friendly House Inc. is a small, elementary-only district with a demographically concentrated student body, limited test data to judge academic performance by, and a chronic absenteeism rate worth asking about. It may fit a family looking for a small, neighborhood-scale school environment, but the sparse public data means direct inquiries to the school will be important.
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