Washington Elementary School

2300 Martin Luther King Junior Way

School District

Berkeley Unified
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:18
Type

public

School Map for Berkeley Unified School District

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on July 02, 2024

We joined Washington just before COVID and the school went fully remote (as required). It was a difficult way to start, and everyone was doing the best they could to adapt. As students returned to campus, the faculty thoughtfully navigated the complexity of reintegrating. Overall, I was impressed. My daughter recently exited 5th grade as a very well-adjusted individual who was performing well in the classroom. We love you Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. Baile, and Mrs. Jokela!
Submitted by parent on August 31, 2023

Washington is an excellent school academically and offers tons of enrichment classes like science, gardening, art, music, and library each week. What's so special about the school is that it has the strongest community out of any of the other Berkeley public schools. Each teacher is skilled and cares about the wellbeing of the children. It also has an amazing playground with its own forest. If your child gets into Washington, consider yourself lucky!
Submitted by parent on August 02, 2020

On July 31, 2020 our school community received a newsletter from our principal with the following statements and platitudes. “Although this remains an extraordinarily challenging time, I believe there is tremendous possibility within that challenge — the possibility to come together as a community, to disrupt inequities, and to lay the foundation for a stronger, more just world.”“We spent a lot of time analyzing the surveys you completed around your experience with online instruction and, although none of us feel that online instruction is nearly as effective as face to face, we are confident that we will be able to implement an effective and meaningful educational program for all of our students throughout 2020-21.”“It is clear to teachers and parents that kids learn best — and video meet-ups work best — when there are fewer people in a group. At the same time, it is also important for the whole class to be together to develop community.”
Submitted by parent on July 24, 2020

We had a wonderful experience at Washington! My daughter moved there in fourth grade from a small private school. She loved the larger school community and made new friends from the first day. Her fourth and fifth grade teachers were excellent. They were dedicated, creative and made learning engaging and fun. There were some fantastic field trips and in-depth, critical thinking projects. The school garden and playground are wonderful. The school community is friendly, welcoming and caring. The school principal is kind and very involved with everything going on at the school. The after school program was really fun and my daughter made many friends there. She also enjoyed the enrichment activities. We loved our time at Washington and were sad to leave, especially during distance learning.
Submitted by parent on February 02, 2018

Our son loved his kindergarten year here. His teacher was wonderful and he is excited to go to school in the morning. He matured a lot in the first few months of school in terms of his attention span, reading, writing and drawing. The homework for the kindergarten class is reading a book a night (parent reading or kid reading).
Submitted by parent on May 30, 2016

I am really disappointed that they have gone through not one but two kindergarten teachers for my son's class in less than a year and he will have subs to finish out the year. As kindergarten is a child's introduction to formal education, this really is a disruption to their learning at a critical juncture. As my son lives in two different households I was really hoping that Washington would provide him with stability and consistency, but that has not been the case. What is the problem with Washington being able to retain teachers? It seems that their agenda is more to indoctrinate the children with short sighted political agendas that they can't even comprehend such as posting black lives matter posters on the windows, support syrian refugees on the door, and pride parades. Maybe if they focused more on genuine formal education, it would attract and retain better talent rather than hiring only folks who support a narrow sociopolitical agenda and put personal objectives before those of the children they were hired to educate. That personality type is flaky to begin with an no surprise they leave mid year.When I reported to the school that my son had been physically abused by his mother and I had to pull him out of class to be interviewed by the police, the response from the teacher and from the attendance lady was only to advise me and his mother of our mutual right to take the kids out of school. There was no concern for his well being or follow up to what happened. This place is a joke and the children deserve better.
Submitted by parent on September 28, 2015

Things were fantastic during our K and 1st grade years. 2nd grade was not as great due to lack of responsiveness in regards to our concerns with our child's math performance. The teacher told us it was lack of focus and effort. 3rd grade was even more frustrating with a teacher who was overwhelmed with 2 or 3 students with persistent behavioral problems and no support. Our child fell further back in math and we were again told that it was lack of focus and effort because our child was engaged and excelled at all other subjects. Seems obvious now that the lack of engagement should have been a red flag, but the teachers ignored it. Now we have to go through the process of having our child evaluated for a learning difference and not getting the support we would expect from the current teacher. Teachers have also been reluctant to collaborate with each other within grade cohorts, and they have been somewhat unreceptive to incorporating enrichment classes into the curriculum, so some enrichment gets cancelled because there is not enough instruction time for core subjects. The new principal has a solid vision but she is now the 3rd principal in 5 years. So I don't expect much to change unless it looks like she's going to be around for a while.
Submitted by parent on August 30, 2014

Washington is a relatively large school with 3-4 classes at each grade level. As student population has grown the school has struggled to keep up. For example, lunch has to be broken into three shifts and kids only have 15 minutes to stand in line for food, sit and eat amid loud chaos. The facilities are older. The pro of this is that the classrooms are bigger than some of the other Berkeley schools. The con is that some classes are held across the street in portables forcing kids to cross the street multiple times in a day and everything is a little worn. The teachers are good (with a couple exceptions) and care about teaching and mentoring. There are a number of teachers who are also parents. The principal has only been there a year but comes with a good reputation. Science, gardening and cooking, music, and art are taught by specialized teachers. The is a dedicated PE teacher who is also in the playground for recess. Parents are generally involved. The student body is very diverse drawing kids from throughout Berkeley.
Submitted by parent on January 15, 2014

The Washington principal and staff don't spend a lot of time promoting the school, and instead are doing their job, which is why you won't see 100 reviews all submitted on the same day from an obvious PR effort. The rating on this site does not reflect the current school or enthusiasm for this school. Here's what you need to know about the school: * Wonderful proximity to UC Berkeley, BHS, downtown, etc. allows for amazing community support and field trip opportunities. My daughter had really bright UC Berkeley students coming in every week to teach math. When she was younger, BHS students came and read with her. The school has a great program where SFSU students getting their teacher credentials come in on an almost full time basis and provide teacher support. It's all about teacher support and ratios and this school has great programs and doesn't just rely on parent support. * Committed, motivated, active parents. We also have a new principal and the momentum is great to take a really good school & make it even better. * Great extras---dedicated, long-term PE teacher, gardening, movement, Mosaic, counselors, art, science, swimming at the local YMCA (!), etc., etc, etc.
Submitted by parent on February 05, 2013

Berkeley schools are great. My daughter was transferred into this school when the principal at John Muir refused to handle a bullying situation effectively (or at all... they stuck my kid in the same class as her bully from the previous year who tortured her regularly). The principal at Washington was very open, kind, and was a great communicator. The teachers and parents are very accessible. There was always someone available to talk to if needed. My daughter - who was in 2nd grade - had pretty sloppy handwriting, and her teacher Mr. Tubbs was very patient and helpful. I once walked in unannounced and saw him working with three kids helping them correct their spelling and clean up their handwriting. I wish we never left. I'm a single parent and was going to school full-time, waiting for financial aid. It was taking too long, and when I finally got it, no one would rent to me (I assume because I was a single parent and a student and not a "professional") and we ended homeless. We packed up and went to Florida to stay with my parents and it's been hellish ever since. Being in the schools here in Florida really put things into perspective (as if I needed a reminder).
Submitted by parent on June 04, 2012

Overall we've been very happy at Washington. Our child was in the Hi5 program this year and there were a few bumps but the teacher was outstanding, very responsive, open and available. The school overall is very nice, great location.
Submitted by parent on March 07, 2012

My son is in 1st grade, and thriving at Washington. The teachers do a terrific job of challenging and supporting students with a range of abilities. There are lots of great enrichment activities - music, art, p.e. gardening, library, cooking. The culture of the school is really nice - from the way the kids treat each other on the yard, to the way the parents interact, to the way that the principal and teachers care about the kids and families. Washington gets overlooked because the building is a bit old, but it's referred to as the "hidden gem" by people in the district, and with good reason.