5532 California St
San Francisco, CA 94121

Welcoming school with a diverse student body. Amazing opportunities for students to pursue the arts

During my time at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, I was challenged in all of my classes, and I felt like I always had an adult at school that I could trust. Additionally, I like how are school, is small because it's almost like we're one big family, and even though we're different one thing we all have in common is we all care about one another. Furthermore, I know that Marshal was not my first choice but to any new students, Marshall is a great school with some very great teachers and lots of support.

I had a really fun time at Lincoln. I dropped out during Covid but I made a lot of cool connections and saw a lot of interesting things. It was a very fun time and I enjoyed every second of it. Off campus lunch means students can go down to taraval and enjoy some of the food. It also means its very easy to leave school at any time because none of the doors are locked! Which is awesome if you don't care about school. I had a lot of cool and caring teachers/staff here, big shoutout to Aaron Yang, Mark Ruffalo, Omar Campos, Joel Balzer, and Lance Tagamori. The staff here cares about their students and wants them to succeed, they understand the variety of adversities that students face and are willing to help anyone succeed. I highly recommend Lincoln to anyone who wants to have a somewhat challenging school experience that fosters growth and life skills. The school is great. If you apply yourself here you will succeed and grow, I did the opposite but still learned a lot about life. I have very fond memories of my time here and wouldn't trade it for anything. Only reason it gets a three for safety is cause it's easy to leave and I knew a lot of kids who brought weapons to school, but these weren't dangerous or malicious people and only people who wanted to stay safe because of the neighborhood they live in and it is likely 97% of students were unaware to this fact, so don't worry.

Alamo is a wonderful school. We moved out of the city when our older one was about to start elementary school due to the stressful lottery system and we just could not handle the uncertainty. Only to realize that the city is our home and we returned back (Yes, call us crazy if you may !!) with only one fear - a good school for our kids. We have been so lucky to find Alamo. The warm welcome from the parent community was so overwhelming. We truly understood the meaning of community once our kids started going to Alamo. The wonderful parent community at Alamo is so supportive. Principal Fong is so committed and the teachers are so dedicated to student well-being. Alamo has a very strong and involved PTA and a rich after-school enrichment program that has arts, ceramics, coding, dance, music, chess, and so on. My kids are thriving. We are so lucky that we were able to go to Alamo and able to walk to our neighborhood school every day.

Former graduate here. PARENTS, stay away from this place.Bad Things:- Some of the student learning methods forced on students are questionable. They claim that these are ways used in college, but it is actually false. It's also unnecessary and stressful for high school students.- This school does not prepare you for college. Some of the school "college prep" programs are really useless and does not prepare you for college at all. Complete waste of time. PARENTS, Don't buy into their "college prep" nonsense. If you want to prepare your children for college / job, send them to a community college through the SFUSD dual enrollment program. It's far better than any "college prep" nonsense this school advocates for. - School admins were working against teachers for some odd reasons (prob internal disagreements). They like to play "games" with each other during work time.- Some classes listed as available are actually unavailable.- No job training and some classes stated are not actually there (the pathways do not prepare for jobs because you still need a college degree to work in certain fields, but the pathways are a really interesting learning tool)- Many high school level general education classes did not prepare for college level STEM based GE courses. If you are a HS student attending this school, I highly recommend attending a community college instead of going directly to a 4 year if you are going to be a STEM major student.Good Things:- convenience if you live near by. If you do not live in this area, I recommend somewhere else and staying away- skill based pathways (computer science, digital communication, biotech). These don't necessary prepare for college coursework, but they do teach study/work ethics and teamwork skills that you will need in college.

We have two kids at "Wash" and they are both thriving in their unique ways. One is requiring additional educational support which has been fostered by the teachers and the amazing counselors, and the other is more self-motivated and is able to take advantage of the advanced classes offered in the subjects they enjoy. Additionally, each area of the school, whether it is the arts or athletics has teachers that are encouraging and will motivate kids to try something new. Finally, we have found that the core curriculum classes have teachers that will work with your child to actually learn the topic, so they are prepared for college or just a lifetime of learning. The best way I can describe it is that it is a classic traditional high school that has the kids interests at heart.

Three decades later, I’ve come to appreciate the safe haven (for sf) that Lowell provided for me. Stressful? Check ..safe? Check ….. challenging/competitive? Check …. Camaraderie among students and lasting relationships? Check, but you do need to go outside your comfort zone and find your tribe - May take a year(s) … teacher quality? Average….. this school literally saved me and my siblings from having to attend our dangerous neighborhood high school in the city. We were definitely not the brightest, but we put in quite a bit of effort. And that’s all you need. From there, it’s a high probability that you can go to a UC bc Lowell’s reputation does carry a lot of weight. One caution is if your child is overly anxious or does not deal with stress well in terms of academics or testing or a highly competitive academic environment , then I think Lowell may not be the best for a student for his/her mental health. And that’s perfectly fine bc grades are just that and perhaps just a subjective judgment of knowledge or competency in a subject at a particular point in time as compared to the pool of students in one or two classes. And it’s not the end of the world if you don’t go to the best academic public high school in sf.

HORRID AND NIT GOOD VERY LOW RATING

Great small public high school in San Francisco. There is no lottery or wait lists to get into classes including APs like at the large high schools in the district and lower ratio of students to counselors. There are three pathways to choose from in the Junior year. If your student wants to play sport, they will be able to do it here. The majority of teachers are great, some exceptional and all care about the students. Location is central and easy to get to. Recently, the school was awarded a grant for their gardening program. Principal has a positive presence and keeps the community energized and updated. Go Bulldogs!

The education here is very terrible as the teachers are severely underpaid and are not motivated to make sure the students have the best education. Teachers and staff also are known for being involved and taking sides with teens during drama and conflict and often take favoritism. many problems about this school include the bathroom policies where they don't allow students to use the bathroom for a little less than half a period (20 mins). Teachers and staff treat using the bathroom like it's a special privilege and fail to emphasize with students. Burton only allows a handful of students to use the bathroom and only one 1 of the 3 bathrooms is usually opened, leading to a chaotic transition period between classes where you have to pick whether to hold in your juices or risk your attendance absent. The principal of the school is also super unprofessional as she lets her own biases and political agendas influence her decision-making. For example, the JROTIC and other military branches were removed and blacklisted from this school, as she wants to pump up the numbers of students who attend college, in turn making the school statistically look better than it really is. (and that's putting it lightly)The lunch policies are also the worst, as they serve an inadequate amount of food, with an inadequate amount of nutritional value per meal. Often, I have to go through the day with an empty and my bladder full. Overall this is not the place for you if a great education is what you are looking for.