Challenger School - Traverse Mountain

3920 North Traverse Mountain Boulevard

Lehi, UT 84043

26 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK, K-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on January 16, 2025

Very very weak in STEM education. The computer teacher let students read books on their own and provided minimal instructions in class. Mathematics classes use very old textbook. The Mathematics teacher is not good at mathematics at all and confused students most of the time. Students wasted a lot of time learning cursive writing while they could have learned something far more important.
Submitted by parent on October 17, 2019

I love Challenger. I went there from pre-school through 6th grade in Sandy and now my son has gone three years of pre-school and kindergarten. He absolutely loves it. My son can read over 30 books on his own and he is 5. He can already add, subract and do other math as well. He is learning and growing so fast and we are grateful for his Challenger education. It is a well-rounded education with music and art combined with all the other subjects. I totally reccomend it!
Submitted by parent on January 30, 2018

We really loved preschool and kindergarten. The uniform was a little stressful for me in first grade because it's impossible to keep a white oxford shirt clean on my son. I really like a lot of the teachers there. Public school has been a big step backwards, but we have a caring and thoughtful teacher.
Submitted by parent on February 08, 2016

Our daughter attended this school since kindergarden. Unfortunatelly the quality of the teachers they hire is not what was a couple of years ago. The school is more focused on making money than on having and paying the best teachers. The most concerning for me is their morals and that they are too strict. My daughter had a couple of teachers that played favorites, didn't take positive criticism feedback, answer questions coming from the kids, and were teaching kids by making them memorize or do the work for them. The reason for choosing Challenger was that we were looking to develop critical thinking in our daughter and hard work while today teachers come and go every year which shows lack of leadership in the school.
Submitted by parent on December 28, 2015

Although we have enjoyed our preschool and kindergarten experience, the elementary is nothing special at least not better than public. We saw improvements last year, but this year with all the teacher changes and poor replacements have made the experience undesirable. The elementary director comes across as fake and immature, and the headmaster clueless. They say the right things, but do nothing to address concerns. My advice, enroll in preschool and kindergarten, but find a good public or charter for elementary , and save your money.
Submitted by parent on December 10, 2015

I have 2 girls attending this school. My wife and I are constantly blown away by the things they are learning. After reading some of the negative reviews about the change in leadership, I can honestly say that it has not changed the experience for my kids. The most telling thing for me is that they would rather be at school than daycare. They love it. They are not stressed out or overwhelmed in the least. One review said "But if you want your child to be self-confident, love learning, and to think independently, Challenger should not be your school." Our experience has been different. Even as preschoolers our kids were speaking in front of the class and correcting the teachers when they intentionally made mistakes.
Submitted by parent on June 01, 2015

We are so glad we send our kids to Challenger School! They are learning more then we could ever hope for and they enjoy doing it! I smile every time my 5 year old starts doing multiplication facts in the car. I smile when my 7 years starts talking about atoms splitting. They love it and you can tell! Challenger School is truly amazing!
Submitted by parent on April 22, 2015

My son loves it here! I don't personally get any warm, fuzzy feelings when I walk in but it isn't about me. My child is having fun, laughing, singing, learning and making friends. He is always referring to his "Challenger School" everywhere we go.
Submitted by parent on March 24, 2015

My daughter goes to Pre-K here and absolutely loves it! Not even 4 as yet and she is reading, doing math and learning so much more than an average 3 year old. The teachers are awesome and so friendly towards her. They have amazing structure. She is thriving at Challenger.
Submitted by parent on March 13, 2015

We are former Challenger parents and have attended more than one campus. We left when we saw the negative effect the school had on our daughters self-confidence. Challenger places an inordinate amount of stress on young children by constantly comparing them to their classmates. Winning is everything at Challenger. It is not uncommon to see 5th grade children sob when they lose during a spelling bee or math bowl. Children are always disappointed when they lose. It is a problem when losing what should be a fun school contest injures their self-esteem. Fortunately, we found a public school principal nearby with the one character trait that Challenger will never teach your children. Compassion.
Submitted by parent on March 11, 2015

We have loved Challenger. The schools in Utah are not the best in our country. They are overcrowded, under staffed, low standards, poor performers, and do not get me started with common core. We tried charter schools, but we didn't see a big difference between public and charter. This school is the only praiseworthy elementary school in town. We are a family that moved to Utah a few years ago, and in comparison to the other elementary schools in the area, I really appreciate the diversity at the campus. I think it is important for children to be exposed to different cultures and ideas, and make friends with kids from different types of backgrounds. This campus is the best game in town.
Submitted by parent on March 02, 2015

We cannot say enough good things about Challenger. Their focus on teaching children how to love learn is a significant upgrade from our experience in public education. We would not hesitate to suggest Challenger for children and parents seeking a great all around education that prepares students for the rigors of secondary school.
Submitted by parent on January 27, 2015

Numbers don't lie. Challenger School students as a group are reported to receive high Iowa standardized test scores. If you want to pay a school to coach your child your child to score well on standardized tests, Challenger could be your school. But if you want your child to be self-confident, love learning, and to think independently, Challenger should not be your school. Before enrolling your child at Challenger, a quick internet search will yield an enormous number of poor and even damaging experiences from Challenger parents and students alike. And again, numbers don't lie.
Submitted by parent on January 23, 2015

We recently moved to Utah and considered enrolling our children at Challenger. We have seen Challenger marketing materials touting the schools as fun with strong academics. We visited both the Sandy and Traverse Mountain locations - just dropping into both schools. We were not impressed with either school. The atmosphere at both locations felt forced and restrictive. When we walked out of the tour with the Challenger rule book, we knew we needed to do more research. The negative reviews on this web site seem to largely agree with parent comments on other web sites. We will not enroll our children in either of these Challenger Schools and are looking at other private and public schools.
Submitted by parent on January 10, 2015

The recent reviews on this site are a direct consequence of the change in administration and teachers at Traverse Mountain. These reviews are based on negative experiences, not rumors. Challenger's decision to hire a young military man with no educational background to run an elementary school is appalling. Leading soldiers is nothing like running a school. They have lost sight of the fact that they are educating children and should care more about increasing the knowledge and the confidence of these children than they do about increasing IOWA test scores. Unfortunately, it is clear that increasing test scores and revenue are all that matter at this school. We were a committed Challenger family and it was extremely difficult to make the decision to leave. When I saw the damage that this school was exacting on my child's self confidence and self esteem, I decided even the most poorly rated of the public schools would be preferable. Barbara Baker's mission to create a better system for educating children may finally be damaged beyond repair. I would strongly advocate that parents look elsewhere unless drastic changes are made in both teachers and administration.
Submitted by parent on December 19, 2014

My family has been with Challenger School for years. It is STILL an amazing school! My children are so happy! There has been many changes the last year, but in my opinion they are not all bad! They lost some good teachers BUT so many amazing teachers are still there! Why must change be a bad thing? My kids have been in public school and in Challenger school. At public school they couldn't read, didn't have confidence, and hated going! At Challenger they are reading grades ahead, they know they are smart and they love it!!!!!! The results speak for themselves! Many of the reviews here have been fueled by gossip and assumptions. I hope that other parents take the time to come to their own conclusion. Changing things like drop off is not the end of the world!!! I realize how lucky I am to have my kids attend the best school in Utah. Challenger is still my school!
Submitted by parent on December 10, 2014

What a sad sad state of affairs at Challenger School Traverse Mountain.The school had something good going on here for the past few years and then they decided to throw all of Barbara Baker's hard work into the trash. Come to this school and you will realize that children are no longer seen as children , but as liabilities...and when a school does that they show they basically just don't care about the kids.They no longer believe in developing strong ,independent kids..they even have to have strict supervision when they walk down from their class rooms to the office. The new management just wanted to make a point so even things that were working smoothly for years like pick up and drop offs were changed leading to traffic jams and crowded parking lots. The curriculum has been changed with more forced down kids throats and no planning has gone into it. If you are new to this school you will never know the difference. The exodus of kids due to rude teachers and management is a good example. Hoping some one from corporate reads this and decides to bring back Barbara Bakers vision back into this school .
Submitted by parent on December 06, 2014

The fact that there are few local private school options is the only reason Challenger Traverse Mountain has any grade school students left. They believe so much in squeezing the very best test scores out of children that they have lost sight of the true goal: creating an atmosphere that fosters learning. We would gladly jump from this sinking ship if we could find a reasonable alternative. Anyone out there interested in starting a new private school? We know a lot of great former Challenger teachers!
Submitted by parent on November 28, 2014

We believe we did not leave Challenger - Challenger left us. We wanted our children to learn in a happy positive environment. Challenger TM had many great teachers who cared about all of their students. Now students are bullied by teachers who use yelling, shame and fear to teach. What a shame and waste of a strong curriculum. Barbara is likely turning in her grave over the hash the "board" has made of her life's work! We would be happy to come back if and when Challenger corporate realizes that test scores are not nearly as important as letting the children act like children. Learning should be fun but it takes a caring teacher to truly deliver results.
Submitted by parent on October 01, 2014

The changes at Challenger Traverse Mountain are numerous and for the most part negative. Despite the assertion of one "parent" that nothing important has changed, the results are impossible to ignore. Very few of the experienced and positive and helpful teachers have remained. Intelligent parents are concerned about the message that this mass exodus of great teachers sends. These teachers obviously left over concerns about the new headmaster. If the exodus was a message intended for Challenger, the message has clearly not been heard yet. If the message was intended for parents, the numerous transfers of Traverse Mountain Challenger students to local charter schools shows that smart parents are worried enough to move their children and take a chance on a charter school instead of relying on Challenger's "breathtaking results".