3661 Slopeview Dr
San Jose, CA 95148

Extremely competitive - constant testing with teachers bragging tough grading. sub par teachers. The CS teachers makes students write codes on paper. Much easier to get As in other schools. Very few students make it to top colleges because of grading.

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.

Wow, where do I start with this one. This school is what your child might call "hit or miss". My son attended from 4th-6th grade. 4th and 5th were excellent, with an amazing teacher. The school had many oddities however. They let the special- ed kids play in the same playground, which of course they have the undeniable right to do, but at the same time as the other students could be a hassle with them potentially getting hurt. My son also told me that they put those children's strollers abnormally close to the swings, and refused to move. Other than that, it was basically the only major problem that the school had. The problems would grow the following year. My son received a passionate teacher in 6th grade and had a good friend group. However, half way in the year, his teacher began slacking in teaching the material. The kids were set to learn about Rome for a month, yet ended up learning about it for a few days. They also had to do five chapters of science in one week. Many of the children's grades were negatively affected due to this. That school year thus ended on a somewhat sad note. My son often reminisced about his time at Norwood the following year at Quimby. Of course this all was many years ago, so I'm sure the school has improved by then. The transition to Quimby, was in itself not what we expected and a whole story on its own. Overall, I'd give this school a 6.5/10.