Challenger Elementary School

25200 Southeast Klahanie Boulevard

School District

Issaquah
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

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 September 01, 2023

We love the diversity and strong sense of community at the school. The kids are enthusiastic about attending school every day, and the teachers are very kind. While this school did experience some score reductions during the pandemic, they are putting in diligent effort to catch up in academics, equity, discipline, and even in recruiting parent helpers. The families living in this area are cooperative and helpful. All in all, this is truly a great school!
Submitted by parent on September 01, 2023

This is a community-based school that provides much more social-emotional support than I expected. My daughter is a sensitive child, and she used to cry a lot during preschool. However, since she started attending this school, she feels secure, included, and comfortable here. The staff and teachers are very supportive, positive, patient, and experienced with kids of different kinds. Additionally, they arrange different special activities each day, such as music, PE, or library time, all with highly specialized teachers. Teachers know how to motivate students. My daughters are excited to attend school every day and passionate about learning new things. The presence of a student counselor is also a bonus; they visit each classroom monthly to educate students about managing their own emotions and mental health. Additionally, the PTA and parent volunteers host fantastic events almost every month, which brings the community and families together. I would confidently say that this school provides a safe and nurturing environment for young students to learn and grow.
Submitted by parent on May 15, 2022

Great school! 6/10 is way lower than I would rate it. Comparable or better to all elementary schools in the area. The benefit of this school is it is a walking school and has a strong community feel to it.
Submitted by parent on April 24, 2021

Excellent experience! Our daughter attended Challenger from kindergarten to 5th grade. She had several different types of teachers during her time, all giving her something she needed. The entire staff, from the paras to the nurses were amazing. She has moved on to middle school feeling prepared and is part of the National Honor Society. We couldn’t have hoped for a better school for little girl.
Submitted by parent on March 19, 2021

No kindness or support is expected from the staffers.
Submitted by parent on January 29, 2018

The community involvement this school offers, as well as its before/after school program makes it a strong school. My son has had effective teachers who've loved and cared about his progress. He's made life-long friends and always enjoys going to school. I've heard many of the teachers say they chose Challenger b/c of the amazing community it's in and the parental support.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2017

The academics at Challenger seem fine. However, we experienced very spotty and strange communication from our child's teacher. The teacher would give no information on how our child was doing (or even a general newsletter) until something was amiss. When we would respond with "oh, that's too bad, maybe we could take this course of action," we would receive no response. We weren't sure why she contacted us, and then went silent. The administration was friendly, but seemed confused about what to do with our poor communication experience. Our child was also enrolled in a bi-weekly mentoring program, which was fine with us. However, no one could tell us what the mentoring was for, or why our child in particular had been selected. When we asked the teacher, she responded with, it seemed, barely-concealed hostility and vague information. We were told to "ask your child about it." How odd. Of course we spoke to our child about it, but a kindergartener doesn't know the reasons she is being mentored or was chosen for a program. Throughout the year, this seemed to become a default response to our queries. It was almost as if the teacher decided from the get-go that she didn't like us (or our child?), and we could never get on the same page. The teacher seemed generally cold and unfriendly to our kindergartener, in contrast to our child's music teacher and PE teacher, who were warm, open, and communicative. Aside from these two classes, our child loathed going to school, which was sad to us. She transformed from a sunny child to one who seemed vaguely depressed much of the time. Only when she was on school breaks would she seem to recover her former, sunny self. We stuck out the year because we had been told that kindergarten would be a big adjustment, but looking back, I wonder if we should have pushed harder to switch her to a different classroom. Two stars instead of one because her reading and writing improved greatly over the year, and because the music and PE teachers did well by her. Fortunately, we're in a different school area for next year.
Submitted by parent on April 16, 2017

Complete disconnect between school and parents from what we have found. School is extremely slow to respond to parents. Wife volunteered at other schools, but they took over 6 months to respond here. Both children abhor going (a first for them). They've been bullied and abused and they they get in trouble for trying to help their sibling out by protecting them at recess and threatened with expulsion (Daughters hair yanked out, son stepped in to help as teachers were not paying attention to students and he gets in trouble for helping his sister - I think not). Son and daughter called out for reading difficulties in areas he has excelled in other schools, and they still come home nightly and would rather read than watch TV, yet the teachers can't 'get them to cooperate' in class with reading? Really makes me question a lot. They may have decent academic reputation, but their social responses are horrid. I now understand why there is a failure of the social structure up here - complete lack of supervision during common times. We are moving out of this area solely because of the school.
Submitted by parent on January 19, 2017

Our first year in the School. Impressive indeed. Focused and very well organized!!
Submitted by other on May 06, 2016

My family moved to the Issaquah area in 2000, when I was seven years old. I have three brothers (1 older, 2 younger) who have also attended Challenger up until the 5th grade year. As a prior student who is now a thriving young woman, I look back with immense gratitude for the incredible education that myself and my brothers received. All three of my brothers were in the speech-language therapy program. We all tested into the gifted (SAGE) program of Challenger, and through our various interests had experiences with various clubs, teachers, and academic programs. I know I speak for them as well when I say that we felt nothing but welcomed, supported and overall loved by everyone from the teachers to the administrative office. I ended up volunteering at Challenger throughout my high school years, and if I walk into the hallways and proudly state that I am an alumni, I know that I would be embraced warmly. The difference between Challenger and so many of the other fantastic Issaquah schools is that we are a family. The parents look out for the other children, the teachers treated us all with kindness and respect and encouraged our growth. The academics may have seemed rigorous at times for elementary education, but it prepared us to be excellent readers, writers and critical thinkers in our further schooling. My brothers and I are now successfully succeeding. As my youngest brother is now accepting college letters from Harvard, UW and Stanford Universities all while being the most respectful and kind, and loving young man, I wanted to reach out and thank Challenger for the years of support in our childhood developmental years. My gratitude is not an exceptional case. Many of my friends throughout the years at Challenger I am still in touch with today, and I know that the people who come out of this school are well rounded and kind and supportive due to the nurture we received here.
Submitted by parent on April 17, 2014

We've had our daughter in Challenger for almost 4 years. Teacher quality is excellent, with only a few exceptions of mediocrity. Academic demands are rather tough for Elementary school, but reasonable; there is ample time to catch up, if you fall a bit behind. Our daughter has made significant academic progress each year, without being too stressed-out. The school is in a low-traffic, residential area with good possibilities for biking to and from school. There is ample space for play during recess, and after school in the park-like surroundings. Each year there in an International Fair with exhibits from the many countries that are represented by the student body. There is also a rather ambitious Science Fair. After-school services are provided each school day and during summer vacation.
Submitted by parent on October 26, 2008

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