The top reported proficiency rate is 78% in English language arts. The lowest is 67% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Great Hearts Academies - Chandler Prep
Great Hearts Academies – Chandler Prep is a public charter school serving grades six through twelve in Chandler, a large Phoenix suburb. The school operates as a regular public charter school, not as a magnet or Title I school. It is part of a single-school charter district, Chandler Preparatory Academy. Because it is a charter school, attendance is open by application, not by residential assignment.
Located on North Alma School Road, the school sits in a city that functions as a major tech and employment hub in the East Valley. Chandler is a car-oriented suburb shaped by master-planned subdivisions, freeway corridors, and a historic downtown core. The city’s economy is anchored by large employers including Intel, Wells Fargo, and Northrop Grumman, with a substantial portion of non-government workers employed in high-technology manufacturing. The school draws from across this broad suburban landscape rather than from a single neighborhood.
The student body is diverse in background. White students make up roughly half of the enrollment, with Asian students and Hispanic students each accounting for about one-fifth. Smaller shares identify as two or more races, Black, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are classified as English learners was not available in this dataset, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about its support programs for those populations.
Academically, Chandler Prep posts results that place it among the stronger schools in Maricopa County. On the state’s 2024-25 assessments, proficiency rates in math and English language arts were well above typical county levels across grades six through eight, the only tested grades. Science proficiency in grade eight was also high. An overall proficiency index, averaging results across tested subjects and grades, puts Chandler Prep in the top quartile among districts in Maricopa County. The school’s enrollment is moderately sized for a middle and high school, and it appears to draw a motivated student population.
Because the school serves only grades six through twelve, there is no early-elementary testing data. No state testing results are available for the high school grades either, because Arizona tests in those grades use different assessments and are not included in this data. Graduation rate data was also absent from this dataset; a parent curious about four-year completion rates would want to ask the school directly.
The school is part of the Great Hearts network, a group of classical-education charter schools in Arizona and Texas. The curriculum emphasizes a liberal arts foundation with a focus on Western civilization, Socratic discussion, and a structured sequence of humanities, mathematics, sciences, and languages. This is an academic model that appeals to families seeking a traditional, content-rich approach. Extracurricular offerings, advanced coursework like Advanced Placement, and other program details were not included in the provided data.
Recent district-level changes for Chandler Preparatory Academy were not found in the research conducted. No referendums, property-tax shifts, curriculum overhauls, or campus relocations were identified for the single-school district in recent years.
Housing in the Chandler area carries price tags above the national median but close to the Arizona median. Typical home values and rents in the school’s ZIP code have edged down slightly from a year ago, while mortgage rates have been hovering above six percent nationally. The area has seen steady population growth over recent decades, driven by tech-sector expansion and freeway-oriented development along the Price and Santan corridors.
For a family considering Chandler Prep, the evidence points to a charter school with strong academic test results serving a diverse but selective-attendance student body in a fast-growing tech-oriented suburb. The classical curriculum is a specific pedagogical choice that not every family will prefer, but those who align with its approach will find a school that performs well on state measures. The absence of data on special education and English learner populations, as well as on the graduation rate, are gaps worth raising directly with the school before making a decision.
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