Chandler, AZ, August 2008: Great Hearts Academies is pleased to announce that its two newest schools: Scottsdale Preparatory Academy and Glendale Preparatory Academy have opened with full enrollment and high community demand.  These new academies will build on the proven success of the other Great Hearts schools—Veritas Prep, Chandler Prep, and Mesa Prep—and their founding sister school, Tempe Prep. Both Scottsdale Prep and Glendale Prep are now enrolling for fall 2009.

Great Hearts Academies has worked to place the schools in strategic locations to serve extensive parent demand and established community interest. Dr. Daniel Scoggin, Great Hearts CEO, said “these new academies are a major step forward in our business plan to provide more families with public access to a full prep school education and environment. We expect that both schools will become central and essential to the communities they serve for years to come.”

With over 1,400 students and growing, Great Hearts Academies has asserted itself as one of the most respected prep school providers in Metro Phoenix. Its AIMS scores place their academies in the top rank of public schools statewide, our students score 20% higher than the national average on the SAT test, and 99% of their seniors are admitted to selective colleges and universities nationwide.

Scottsdale Preparatory Academy is located at 7496 East Tierra Buena Lane, off the Greenway-Hayden loop, near the intersection of Frank Lloyd Wright and Scottsdale Road. Scottsdale Prep currently serves grades 6, 7, 8, 9 and with 275 students. A high school grade will be added each year until the school eventually serves grades 6-12 and approximately 450 students.

Glendale Preparatory Academy is located near the intersection of 75th Avenue and the 101 at 7201 W. Beardsley Road at Dove of the Desert United Methodist Church. Glendale Prep currently serves grades 6, 7, 8, and 9 and 175 students, and will eventually serves grades 6-12 with approximately 360 students.

Each Great Hearts academy provides a liberal arts curriculum that is the same for all students in grades 6-12: Latin, calculus, advanced physics and chemistry, art, music, and drama are compulsory subjects, as is the study of a foreign language and the reading of Shakespeare, Plato, Dostoyevsky, and scores of unabridged Great Books. “We provide a rigorous curriculum,” said Dr. Scoggin, “and we believe that every student who is curious and diligent can succeed.”

All students have to follow a uniform dress code, and the schools hold students to high standards of integrity and conduct towards each other. Students are invited to contribute their voices to the civil Socratic discussions that are the norm in classes of 22 or less. In addition, Great Hearts students participate in a wide variety of extracurricular activities, including AIA high school athletics, speech and debate, art, drama, and music.