kodokan

The two uber-preppie private schools that get mentioned here a lot are Brophy (very Jesuit Catholic) and Phoenix Country Day, which doesn't seem to be religious: Phoenix Country Day School | Small Classes, Exceptional Teachers, and Time-Tested Results. It's based in Paradise Valley though, which is Phoenix's answer to Beverly Hills as regards house prices, so you'd need to pay a LOT to live anywhere near it, or have the inconveniences of daily commuting and probably living a long way from his friends.

I expect there are other private schools too. There are a ton of charter schools, but they can be very hit and miss on quality or educational ethos. The best ones are the BASIS group of schools, which are nationally-recognized and get astounding academic results (and for free; charter schools are public-funded and free to attend) but they get those results through rigorously academic classes and a homework schedule that weeds out anyone but the most committed.

Carefully selecting a top public middle/ high school and moving near it can work very well. The system streams the more able kids and pushes them ahead; my son is in 9th grade, but taking 10th grade-level classes in Math and Science, and was skipped a year ahead in French based on his background of already having studied it. I've found the schools very flexible like that. And the class sizes aren't too bad at all - his are mostly around 24-26, but his English class has 17!

Hotscot

And be aware that private school teachers may be far less qualified/credentialed than public school teachers.

In the West you can enquire if they are WASC accredited.

http://www.acswasc.org/faq.htm

I assume there are similar accrediting bodies elsewhere.

Pulaski

In some private schools yes, perhaps even "most" private schools, given how many small private schools there are, but like everything else in life, you get what you pay for, and a well regarded, high performing school will have well trained top-notch teachers.

The acid test of course is what the graduating students go on to achieve, which is tough to measure unless the school goes all the way to eighteen. But the school little Miss P goes to has a 100% rate of graduating students going to four year degree programs, mostly to well known universities across the country, but regularly including ivy league and nationally renowned private universities. .... I am not necessarily looking forward to little Miss P going to college!

Uncle_Bob

I had the choice of Phoenix or Miami in 2001 when i lost my job while living on cape cod. As I can't stand humidity and I like to be able to see through the bugs we chose Phoenix. We were also fed up living in a tourist trap.

As it turns out Phoenix has been a great choice for the whole family. We are in a good school district and the kids and are doing perfectly well in a public school. A lot of people here are religious or belong to the Mormon cult, but they are pretty harmless.

Craftycow

Thanks Uncle Bob!