2861 Castleton Dr
San Jose, CA 95148

Speaking as a hispanic student here, there is too much homework, that it leaves no time for outside school activities or social life outside school. The staff at this school do NOT CARE, speaking on the people in the office and teachers in the cohort. I think they should completely take done the cohort because it’s a toxic culture and the naive english teacher promotes violent culture. We had a terrible bio teacher, and it took hundreds of students to get her out, supporting my claim on that they do NOT CARE. They have good family engagement. As for safely, most fights involve hispanic girls and boys. A boy brought a crowbar to school for a fight. They need security. i’m currently transferring due to my mental health that the school caused.

My son is in 4th grade and has been going here since Kinder. I love the family environment, teachers, staff, and Principal.

I think that this school is good, but could improve on certain things. For starters, I personally oppose the "LSI" program. I know that kids are justified in choosing this program, but I never really saw how teaching through projects helps the children digest knowledge. So when they get to high school, they'll be struggling due to being used to no workload prior, and working separately. The "LDA" program on the other hand is basically what you'd expect middle school to be. The teachers are very mixed in quality. One of the science teachers that my son had didn't teach much, and he got a B- in the class. She relied only on online assignments, without explaining how to do them, and didn't always suggest what to study for the test. Another teacher my son had for history was one that's class he looked forward in attending, yet the principal made her switch to a "textbook-based" method due to the fact that when one student was asked to describe what they were learning during the principal's visit to the class, the student had difficulties responding, which of COURSE is justified in the presence of a principal. The class went on to go through various "teaching changes" throughout the year, and quite frankly, my son started to lag behind in understanding all the material, coincidentally. The school does have some positive factors however. For example, they offer CCM 7/8 and CCM 9 classes for those ahead. They also have a great PE department and Wrestling team. Social-emotional support is present with MOSTLY approachable office staff and counselors. So really, I think that this school does have the potential to dominate academically in the district, but I feel that they need to consider more about how they are helping kids learn with the effect of their decisions, and if they have course rigor. Overall, I'd give this middle school a 7/10.