Welcome to Whittier Elementary School, a safe, positive, productive environment where teachers love teaching and students love learning. Students, staff, and families work alongside one another as active learners. Students are engaged physically and mentally in the learning environment to develop the critical thinking skills needed to make a positive impact on their school, community, and world.

Whittier Elementary School is a K-8 school in the historic Coronado neighborhood in Phoenix. We serve about 375 students under the guidance of Principal Erin Freriks. 

Named the first “No Place for Hate” elementary school in Phoenix by the Anti-Defamation League, Whittier is a safe school where students are the change-makers to prevent bullying. Whittier is proud to be a “B” school as defined by the Arizona Department of Education. Parent engagement, student achievement, and the overall well-being of students and staff are our top priorities. We welcome students within the neighborhood as well as across the valley. 

At Whittier Elementary our mission is to provide a high-quality academic and social-emotional foundation to push students to excel in school and in life. Our students are engaged physically and mentally in the learning environment to develop critical thinking skills needed to make a positive impact on their school, community, and world. We are proud to say we support the whole child.

Awards and Recognitions

• High student Achievement “B” school by ADE 
• First elementary school in Phoenix by ADL to be a No Place For Hate school 
• PBIS award recipients of Silver, Bronze, and Merit

Quality First, a program of First Things First, has awarded our preschool program at Kenilworth a 4-star rating! Quality First assesses programs using valid and reliable tools focusing on what research shows are the key components of quality early care, including adult-child interactions, learning environments, and staff qualifications. The 4-star rating indicates that our program exceeds quality standards for early learning! 

Grades K-5 Academics

A strong foundation of learning in the primary grades leads to lifelong learning success. By offering high quality instruction aligned to the rigor of the K-5 Arizona state standards, classroom lessons are planned and implemented in the areas of foundational reading, writing, mathematics, science and social studies. Teachers provide engaging instruction using standards-aligned resources and instructional best practices to ensure every student learns and achieves in every grade level and subject area.

Our programs are designed to meet the needs of all students quickly and effectively through strong grade-level instruction. Staff uses data-based decision making to provide appropriate evidence-based intervention and enrichment opportunities.

To continue building and sustaining our collaborative learning community, teachers meet regularly within and across grade levels and participate in professional development.

Grades 6-8 Academics

High-quality instruction aligned to the rigor of the state standards continues in grades six through eight. Classroom lessons are planned and implemented in the areas of English language arts (ELA), mathematics, science and social studies.

Students read both quality literature and informational text. The emphasis is on critical thinking skills to make connections to and across texts as well as citing text to justify responses. Writing is embedded in all content areas. Our core mission is to ensure that every child is achieving at or above grade level in each subject area. Our intervention programs are designed to identify remediation and enrichment opportunities quickly and effectively for each and every child through data-based decision making. We believe that with strong and effective instruction, children will grow.

To continue building and sustaining our collaborative learning community, teachers meet regularly within and across grade levels and participate in professional development.

The program is based on research of best practices for middle level students ages 11-15. Our program promotes a sense of self-actualization, the realization of one’s own talent and potential that serve as a motivation for success.

Opportunities for collaboration and presentation of conceptual understanding of learning in multiple ways are incorporated into the lesson and assessments.

The goal of our program is to ensure students are well prepared for the transition to high school.