Renascence School International

17620 Fitch

Irvine, CA 92614

32 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK-7
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on October 07, 2022

This school is phenomenal. My kids have been at this school since they first opened. I have a 10th grader and middle schooler. Besides the rigorous academics and languages, the teachers & staff are the reasons we stay. RSI is a very loving environment - full of wonderful families and good kids. RSI has plenty of opportunities for parents to stay involved, which is key. They offer great enrichment after-school classes, such as coding lessons, legos/robotics, cultural dancing, music instruments, and a variety of sports and outdoor fun. The school plans overseas trips where kids can be fully immersed in the culture and language. They typically pick a Spanish or Chinese speaking country and are nicely organized. This year my high schooler (and many other HS/middle schoolers) received 2 global seals of fluency - in Spanish and Chinese and the HS will get to study in Spain for a month while they complete their dual enrollment college classes. The class sizes are pretty small so that teachers can give students the individualized attention to help them stay ahead, which is great bc they are learning very deep advanced material. If any students need extra help in the subject the school will offer tutoring. My kids attended an Irvine public school for a year and felt the material was not challenging enough, including the advanced math classes, so we decided to come back to keep them challenged. Overall, we are very happy at RSI. My kids are thriving and so happy at this school.
Submitted by parent on March 16, 2021

We are on our third year of this school and will be sending our second child there in the fall. Their programs are exceptional and we couldn't be happier.
Submitted by parent on April 04, 2018

Renascence has very rigorous academics blended with fluency in Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. RSI is an amazing school that teaches our children to be global citizens and live & prosper as best as they can. They prepare students to engage with all cultures, languages, religions, and communicate with students around the world via skype sessions. I believe Renascence will give our children the tools to succeed, be competitive in a global workforce, as well as manage and exceed their own personal expectations and those of others in the future. Unique and Life Changing!
Submitted by parent on January 12, 2018

As a founding family at this school, the past 6 years (and still going!!) have been tremendous!!! We could not be more pleased with the growth that has always been moving positively forward because of a strong parent commitment coupled with the obvious strength of the administration. Our family friend runs the curriculum for the neighboring public school system - and he is blown away with where our child is academically. It was at is urging to keep moving forward with this school as long as we can...."I have never seen anything like this before. It's a brilliant concept." We love our school: teachers, staff, after school programs (life savers for us working parents), and most importantly, our new friends that wanted something unique and life-changing.
Submitted by parent on November 25, 2017

The school in concept works. However, the lack of educational background starts to effect the chldren in second grade. It wasn't a good long-term choice for the cost.
Submitted by other on August 12, 2016

This is school is better than great. Its outstanding and if you can manage to have your kids attend I would highly recommend it. The students are all wonderful kids and the families seem to be a tight-knit group (we are new to the school). My daughter had an amazing first year and never wants to leave. She can count in all three languages, knows her alphabet - forwards and backwards and all her letter sounds at 3 years. The school has an amazing way of keeping the kids engaged in learning and making it fun for them. We love this school and are never leaving
Submitted by parent on February 18, 2016

This school is the BEST advanced language immersion school in the area. I have done my research and toured all the schools. I found this school to be the best fit for my children. We are in the midst of our 4th year at this school, and we couldn’t be happier!! Our children have grown in leaps and bounds at this school. This is all thanks to the administrators who are committed to shape the school to be the best it can be. This is a relatively new school, which is always improving in the most positive way each year. As new as this school is, it is the oldest and most established language immersion school in Orange County. The teachers at this school are fabulous. They are committed to excellence in education and they genuinely care about the children. We feel that our children are in safe dedicated hands. Both of our children have had the same teachers for the past few years. They enjoy a calm learning environment with a good community of supporting peers, parents, and teachers.My children’s grandfather (who was raised in China) has commented numerous times how amazed he is with the depth of the language taught in Chinese. He said the information taught is competitive for the same grade level in China. We are impressed and pleased!! My child reads, writes, and speaks exceedingly well in Chinese. I am amazed at the pages of Chinese that they read for Math, Science, and Chinese literature. We do not speak Mandarin at home, so my children are only able to learn the language at school. I can write with confidence that they are flourishing in the language!! The fact that my children learn Spanish at this school is a bonus. I actually came to this school for the advanced academics and Chinese immersion. Being in education myself, I am quite particular with the curriculum. This curriculum works! Each year lays a solid foundation. The quarterly assessments allow time for review of material learned during that particular quarter. This is the time when the information is committed to long term memory. The review provides necessary time for my children to assimilate and truly learn the information. My children rarely have homework (except for weekly spelling tests). They are only given homework if their teacher feels they need further reinforcement of concepts learned.I HIGHLY recommend this school where children are the top priority!
Submitted by parent on September 08, 2015

Our two kids were in the Chinese immersion summer camp for Renascence this year. They loved learning Chinese and couldn't wait to see their Chinese teacher every day. The teacher was naturally gifted with teaching kids and also very well trained, so she easily handled a variety of learning styles. The teacher made it energetic, creative, expressive and fun!!! The teacher used a variety of hands-on experiences to teach them, such as art and science and even origami, where she used Chinese while demonstrating the processes, so they quickly learned to comprehend instructions and the vocabulary associated with many different subject matters. She patiently encouraged their every effort, and helped them to move rapidly and sequentially from words to concepts to phrases and then to sentences and stories. She taught them to comprehend, speak and then read in Chinese all in just a few weeks. They came home reading short stories to us in Chinese. My husband and I were amazed and elated at their rapid progress. They started the summer barely being able to say, "My name is ... " and ended the summer by being able to quickly read sentences in Chinese characters. When shown a series of Chinese characters, my kids were able to successfully select the appropriate, verb, noun, adverb, possessive, etc, to use. There were good breaks during the day so they didn't feel like they were just sitting and learning one language. My kids enjoyed the STEM classes and getting to know other students in the school. And the sports segment, conducted in Spanish, was awesome, including soccer, basketball and even baseball. My kids aced their Spanish class as well. This is a brilliant school and I highly recommend it.
Submitted by parent on September 05, 2015

Where can I start? This has been an absolutely incredible school for my son. My son is not an easy child; however, the teachers here have stepped up to the challenge and made learning enjoyable for him. He loves going to school. His teachers are amazing; he absolutely adores his Chinese teacher. We come from a non-mandarin speaking background and it has always been a dream of mine to have my son understand and speak fluent Mandarin when he grows up. It hasn’t been long since he started at Renascence School International, but he understands and is trying to speak quite a bit of Chinese already. It is true that the school encourages academic learning, yet there are enough play and activities to motivate the students to learn and achieve outstanding results. Those results extend beyond the academic classroom and include good character building and social skills. Last semester, the entire school participated in a weekly character builders curriculum. Themes such as honesty, kindness, responsibility and patience were emphasized. Each week the children learned new traits that encouraged them to build and strengthen positive characteristics. Emails were sent to parents describing which trait the children had learnt that week and examples given on how they can encourage and apply that good behavior at home. Some of our friends feared that learning 3 languages at the same time would be difficult for my son and might even make him fall behind with his English. Contrary to belief, my son started reading before he even turned 4 and is now doing well in all 3 languages. I feel so lucky to have found a school for my son to truly thrive at.The directors and teachers have the child's' best interest at heart and we applaud their efforts at making sure each child gets what they need. This is a loving, caring, school experience that nurtures the best in every child. They will give your child what he needs to be successful, teach him that he is a productive, valuable member in the world, and show him how to give back.
Submitted by parent on June 18, 2015

What you don't see from the 5-star reviews is that there were a lot of parents who left the school this year and who didn't write bad reviews. The directors call them the "problem parents who are gone" and even though those parents know this, they won't post bad reviews just to be mean. I give this school 2 stars because my child did learn to speak Chinese. It's true that most of the 5-star reviews here were started by request from a marketing committee in 2013. If you want trilingual immersion school you should talk to those parents who left and are now at the two other OC Chinese immersion schools. Teacher turnover rate is high at RSI. No English teacher has ever stayed for more than one year and every year the directors blame it on the teacher. The best teachers that everyone raved about in older posts all left after 2014 or aren't coming back in 2016. Teachers are stressed out because a big part of their pay is based on how well the kids do on the quarterly tests. So the teachers end up teaching to a test which is exactly what you want to avoid by choosing private school. Parents are stressed out too because teachers constantly ask parents to do a lot of work at home so that the kids will do well on their assessments and they can get their bonus, which they hardly ever do. You can tell that the teachers aren't happy to be there- it shows in how they interact with the kids. Not a very warm environment. The preK teachers also have high turnover every year and are inexperienced in how to deal with little kids. Classrooms and desks are dirty and cluttered except for the night before open house when everything magically gets cleaned up. The school talks about an advanced curriculum but it's hard to get any details. The person who makes up the curriculum is in Florida and only comes in to run the assessments. She doesnt have a background in education or child development. Neither do the directors. They make an effort but they just don't know how to run a school. The curriculum is especially weak in English and History because those subjects are combined. The awards on their website about athletes, actors and science fair participants are very misleading because only two kids got all those awards and those two kids left the school. The directors intentions are good and they seem to want to help the kids but they just don't make good educational decisions.
Submitted by parent on February 27, 2015

I am not in marketing. In fact, the marketing committee at RSI was formed by a few moms and lasted a year. The moms asked other parents to voluntarily write comments about the school. There was no coercion to do it. My youngest has been attending for 2 years and is flourishing with the curriculum, atmosphere and with the teachers. My oldest son has focus and attention issues. The director Carrie has helped me in numerous ways to find a balance for my son. This year is more challenging so she hired a private tutor for him during school time. She was awesome. Unfortunately she's leaving for a few months but Carrie went out of her way to recommend Skype tutor time with the tutor and my son. The curriculum itself is pretty rigorous. But the majority of the kids absorbs all the information like sponges. My kids are learning so much. The school is not perfect, it is still relatively new (that is why I'm giving it a 4 star). I have talked to other parents that attend other immersion program schools and by far, this is the best one in OC. Definitely tour the school, talk to the parents, have your child sit in for one day and you are allowed to sit in a class as well.
Submitted by parent on February 09, 2015

Renascence surprises both parents and students by raising the bar for what young children can achieve academically. Our children started in preK, and they and their peers were taught an accelerated curriculum in Mandarin Chinese, as well as Spanish and English. The academic standards follow an international and not just US or Asian standard, and when the teachers and kids expected (and knew) nothing less, they absorbed math, Spanish and English at levels unseen in most other schools we've seen in CA, WA, and MA. Last year, we moved schools for a number of reasons, and send our kids to another highly regarded private school that has a heavy liberal arts focus taught only in English. We were concerned that since our kids were in Chinese immersion for 2.5 years, they may be behind their peers in their reading comp, vocabulary, and writing. However, Renascence gave them a solid foundation. They got outstanding grades in English, vocab and grammar this first semester at the new school. They also took the WISC IV IQ assessments, and their reading comp reconfirmed that their Chinese immersion education did not negatively impact their English education at all.
Submitted by parent on January 23, 2015

I give this school a two star, only because my child did learn chinese. The behavior problems of some of the kids is disruptive to the class and the teachers stand by and let it happen. My child was hit by another child and nothing was done! Teachers...oops, their not teachers. Just people with speciality background. But, definitely not trained to educate young minds and keep unruly children in line. I am glad that we have found another school and never finished the year at a school where they don't feel their perfect system is flawed (despite the countless complaints and unhappy parents who feel stuck because they want their child to learn a language) when it is filled with them and no interest in change. Take all reviews with caution, speak to several current parents (not provided by the owner), visit the school more then once. The reviews are so misleading. This school unfortunately is NOT a 5 star!
Submitted by parent on September 02, 2014

Truly an amazing school! The advanced academics and language instruction are unparalleled. My daughter attended Renascence School Int'l (RSIOC) for 2 years. Although she started with no language background, she is now able to communicate effectively in 3 different languages. Sadly, my job recently transferred me out of state and I have not been able to find another program that can compare. Although we found another Chinese immersion school, it lacks the advanced curriculum and Spanish instruction. My daughter is at the top of her class at her new school and her teachers are very impressed with her Chinese and how expressive she in the language. Even though my child is no longer a student at RSIOC, the director of the school has continued to graciously provide advice, support, and resource recommendations as we struggle to provide a similar experience to the one she had while attending RSIOC. We greatly miss all the faculty, staff and families that make this school so unique and special. We will definitely return here when we move back to the area in a couple of years. I highly recommend this school to any parent who desires a high-quality, one-of-a-kind education for their child!
Submitted by parent on August 22, 2014

My daughter just finished summer camp here, and we now have her enrolled her for fall. She was excited to attend everyday; having several different teachers for different languages. I am thrilled my daughter will be exposed to different teachers throughout the day; not creating a dependency upon one teacher. As a mom, I was thrilled to get to know some parents. It's a parental culture that exudes support, happiness and calm. This summer's program was about gardening and cooking; while getting lots of physical exercise, language exposure and academics. I am very excited to be a part of a new organization that will grow with a positive attitude. I wish I had an opportunity for this type of school when I was young. I'm very proud to be a part of a groundbreaking educational platform!!! Leigh. Mother of starting 1st grader.
Submitted by parent on August 21, 2014

Do beware that most of these reviews are from the Marketing Committee. On that note - the academics itself is quite impressive with my child being able to identify colors and numbers in numerous languages. On the other hand - this is a new school so there are A LOT of learning pains. We decided to try the Summer Camp and even in that 4 week period, there was a lot of teacher turnover and no communication about it. We would just show up one day and it's a different teacher. You would think that with the sensitivity of young children, parents should be informed if there will be someone new watching their kids so they can prepare them for new surroundings. It's a shame that the directors are parents themselves and do not have this consideration.
Submitted by parent on July 27, 2014

My 4 year old attended one session of summer camp this summer and she absolutely loved it. From day one she was repeating newly learned Chinese words and sought out Spanish and Chinese word flash cards on our Iphone to review what she had learned. She also loved her teacher Ms. Banks who is very kind and encouraging. She grew her own bean plant, learnt about soil, compost, worms and five senses. All in short four weeks. She already misses her teachers and friends she made. We would gladly re-enroll but have to relocate. I highly recommend this school for parents looking for a school with emphasis on foreign languages and fostering curious minds.
Submitted by parent on April 29, 2014

My 2 children (5 and 6 years old) have been at RSIOC for a couple of years now and their progress in languages (mandarin, spanish, and english), math, reading and writing is pretty amazing. If you are looking for teachers and a curriculum to differentiate and improve your childrens education, I highly recommend RSIOC. Key factors for us: 1. Focused faculty. My kids growth and results is a priority. We have two kids who are polar opposites - they learn, respond, and test differently. I am so thankful to the teachers. We work together to advance their individual style of learning and we've seen great progress. 2. Assessments. Teachers prepare detailed and helpful progress reports to praise and help my kids advance. No fluff here! RSIOC faculty is held to a high standard of results and assessed timely as well. RSIOC is not afraid to turnover faculty who are not performing which has resulted in high performing faculty and kids testing results. 3. Difference. Compare and you will see an advanced level of experience and knowledge in every area (languages, math, reading, and character building). Visit the classroom, meet the students and see for yourself. Best, The Mitchell's.
Submitted by parent on April 05, 2014

I m not in the school marketing committee & I m telling my own experience with my daughter about this wonderful school. My 4 year old daughter started pre-kindergarten thru the school year in Jan. In Mar she was given a verbal test & she recognized over 50 Chinese words. She is starting to speak half Mandarin and half English with me now. Last week, in the middle of the night she got up & asked me for a cup of water in Mandarin. I realized the next morning how significant this was. I myself learned English in my early 20 s & it took me a long time to think in English rather than translate in my brain. She is also coming along in Spanish, my husband said she was talking in Spanish to him and he did not understand any of it. The school teachers are excellent & they know what they are doing. I ve seen the Mandarin teacher working before & after school, one on one, helping the children who need more attention. The Spanish and English teachers are working very hard to make sure all children are learning at the same pace. The schools theme is a family school we help each other & encourage the children to study with each other. I strongly recommend this school. Richardson
Submitted by parent on April 04, 2014

This school deserves six stars because they have exceeded my expectations by 110%. My 7 year old son who had never spoke spanish or mandarin before joining this school 2.5 years ago can now carry a conversation in both languages. My younger son has been going here for one year and the two of them will talk in mandarin or spanish depending on the context. The school is a lot of work for the children, the advanced academics could be overwhelming for some but it is worth the extra effort. My first grader is doing math problems his cousin is doing in second grade (at a different private school which also claims to be advanced) and he is doing it in mandarin! The after school programs are of high quality as well, we have done the piano, art and self-defense. The school is also very safe, they have camera surveillance, class sizes under 15 and a strict sign in and out protocol. We are very pleased with this school and are very glad to have found it when we did.