Growth Public

9320 Tech Center Drive

School District

Sacramento City Unified
Grade

K-8
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:23
Type

charter

School Map for Sacramento City 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 February 25, 2025

Growth Public School in Sacramento has been a fantastic experience for my child. The teachers are dedicated, the curriculum is well-rounded, and the facilities are top-notch. My child has developed a love for learning and feels part of a strong community. The administration is always supportive and responsive. I highly recommend Growth Public School!
Submitted by parent on February 25, 2025

Growth Public Schools has been a great school for my sons to attend. GPS helped build confidence in my sons (socially and academically) and for them to become leaders. I appreciate all the support and excellent teachers they have had over the years. We have been with GPS since its opening 2017 with my oldest, and plan to continue to to remain at GPS until my youngest transitions to High School in 2027. As a family we will have spent 10 years with GPS, and I can not think of a better place to guide and build up my sons.
Submitted by parent on February 24, 2025

My experience with GPS has been nothing short of AMAZING. The staff is welcoming and I love that they know every student by name.
Submitted by parent on November 04, 2024

This school has been a great fit for my family and my kids' needs. We love the GPS community and are always impressed at the events hosted by the school! The teachers have all been great fits for my children, and have really connected with my kids, helping them get excited to learn.
Submitted by parent on July 06, 2023

This school on paper has a perfect mission statement and is a safe learning environment for all children. My child unfortunately was not provided the tools to learn. The assignments and test are on a platform that provides unlimited attempts but repeats the same questions so if you just keep guessing you’ll receive a passing grade. There doesn’t seem to be any track system for learning progress and communication regarding a child’s learning is non existent. I hate to say I regret my faith in the school as it has severely set back my child. All there is nothing in place for their physical abilities to grow. No playground, no P.E no sports. During recess rather than have kids sit around and play in bark they should organize activity options (jump rope, basketball, relay race so the kids can get the excercise they need that recess usually provides). I don’t know the rules of education but I can’t see this place staying open much longer.
Submitted by parent on May 11, 2023

The staff and the teachers respect students, …..
Submitted by parent on August 29, 2022

looks more like a childcare than a real school. no system or educational platform!
Submitted by other on August 29, 2022

This school hired many top notch talents over the course of the last 3-4 years, but they were not able to create and maintain a safe and professional space to keep those teachers. They brought in many great teachers, scientists, as well as high quality artists and musicians, but they all left because of : 1- lack of support 2- lack of safe space to teach and grow.
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2022

As a parent, my ultimate priority is my child's safety however I do not see it here. I see a lot of talk around the topics of equity, racial healing, and social emotional learning but it is all talk and no real action. In fact they often do the opposite by their absolute lack of attention to student safety. Play grounds are absolute mess, Cafeteria is dirty and the staff are too busy with things that are not really essential to students health and safety.
Submitted by parent on August 25, 2022

horrible experiece. unsafe enviroment for young children. Admin is not even showing up to work most of the time
Submitted by teacher on August 23, 2022

I do NOT recommend teaching or sending your child to this so called school. The admin is extremely unprofessional when it comes to managing basic situations. They have no leadership, management or business skills to run an organization. Teachers cannot stay there for more than ONE year. They all get attracted by empty promises, but they get exhausted and drained fast within a very short period of time. Teachers often leave after teaching for a year at most. I do like the concept of creating competition in public school system by allowing individuals or groups to open charter schools, however I do recommend school districts to be very strict about the charter petition process and REALLY look for merit and qualifications before granting charters and authorization to open one. Great and fantastic teachers have already left and many more will be leaving as well. With this horrible management, they cannot even continue running this school for years to come.
Submitted by other on July 11, 2022

The teachers at Growth are great and have their students best interest in mind. However, the same can not be said for administration. Administration has created a hostile environment for teachers which in turn has caused multiple mass exodus of staff through out the years. As previously mentioned in a different review admin had staff jump onto Great Schools to increase their rating. The staff who wrote these positive reviews have since left the school. Unless the Admin personnel is changed I would not recommend enrolling your student.
Submitted by other on July 06, 2022

I taught here and I do not recommend working here. Staff loves the kids and families but the teachers are burnt out with little to no prep time, the principal is not consistently around in the everyday life of the students (she is in her office working or working from home), and the communication sent to teachers is often sent last minute. The new administrative staff that is present is doing as much as they can to accommodate teachers and families, while also making sure they complete their administrative duties. When staff had weekly meetings, teachers were asked to address concerns. Some teachers addressed them such as only having 15-20 min lunches with little to no prep time, about the changes to next school year’s proposed learning structure, and feeling unsupported when students are a danger to themselves or the class. Teachers addressing those concerns met with school leaders afterwards to discuss their concerns privately. After that, administration told staff they felt like teachers were gossiping and little to no change was done because they said it was almost the end of the year. The weekly meetings slowly stopped occurring after that. The playground is unsafe and kids routinely fall and get hurt. The glass keeps falling and kids find pieces in the recess area near the school. During the time I was there, there was no mention of intending to build a playground at all even though the community raised money to build one. The kids still remember and bring it up all of the time. Overall, the mission is in the right place, the community is strong, but the procedures and environment put in place are burning teachers out. This is why teachers are leaving.
Submitted by parent on June 11, 2021

To give you a perfect example of what is wrong with this school look at the reviews. This school had a lot of negative reviews and had around a 2-star overall rating, then the principal had all the current staff get on here and review to bump it up. All in the same week 6 reviews 5 stars from teachers. Instead of listening to the feedback and making changes, they just tried to inflate the rating... which is sad. We pulled our kids out of this school after 2 years. All the good teachers leave each year, when we asked them why they told us the Principal was not supportive and was never around. The CEO who created this school checked out a couple of years ago to work on other adventures. The only positive thing I could say about this school was that our teacher was amazing.... but she left at the end of the school year. This school is unsafe and understaffed. During the school year, you can just walk into the school (door left open or unlocked) and just walk around because no one is upfront. I did this many times to check to see how long I could just walk around until someone noticed. The cafeteria is disgusting and you can find the same food on the walls a month later. They don't seem to care about cleanliness.
Submitted by parent on March 03, 2021

GPS is very community oriented and it definitely shows. While the layout of the school is a bit strange (Office building, no playground, surrounded by various businesses), the staff and learning methods more than make up for it. The dedication and care shows, even through the screen during zoom sessions. Communication is very clear and consistent. Overall, a great school.
Submitted by teacher on March 01, 2021

The Leadership, staff, and teachers are all very professional and kind. We always feel like we are part of a family that includes everyone and treats everyone with respect and kindness. I absolutely enjoy teaching here :)
Submitted by other on March 01, 2021

The current staff at GPS are incredible teachers and human beings. They support a growth mindset and see each student as an individual with unique personalities. It feels like a home away from home and the student's education greatly benefits from such an environment. On top of the standard education that every school teaches, GPS goes above and beyond to make sure your child grows socially and emotionally. Learning how to recognize your emotions and interact with peers in a positive and productive manner are important life skills that most schools do not teach. I highly recommend enrolling your child at Growth Public Elementary.
Submitted by other on February 26, 2021

When thinking about Growth Public school, the first thing that comes to mind is growth mindset. Growth mindset deals with taking a challenge and using it as an opportunity to grow. The teachers and staff embody that mindset especially now during a pandemic. Teachers and staff are constantly thinking of ways to improve on our current model. The thing about Growth Public school is that it will always be growing and changing because that is what you do in education. We do not stay in one fixed direction for our students needs are changing and we must change with them. This school is focused on the student and will change to fit the needs of the student. I have seen the school change in many ways. There is still room to grow and ways to better serve our student population as there is no perfect model. Teachers and staff are problem solvers; we'll find the problem, think of solution and then put it into motion. This is what we did when we were encountered with school closures. Over a year has gone by and we have continued to be problem solvers.
Submitted by teacher on February 26, 2021

I have been working at GPS for a while, and every year just keeps getting better! It's certainly had its challenging moments, as opening a new school always does. We didn't have a "formula" given to us, and a lot of things we had to figure out on our own. But with that said, it's also meant that every year we get closer to what we envision for our school. Here are some of the key points I think everyone should consider, whether they are looking to enroll, or apply for a job: -Homework has changed a lot since the beginning. Before COVID, most classrooms require some form of homework, but it is usually reading for 20 minutes. Sometimes teachers will give at home projects, or sight words and math facts to practice. After COVID, we've also added in some online homework that supplements what we are doing in class. -The teachers, particularly this school year, are the best I've ever worked with. Every single one cares deeply about their students, and is a highly effective teacher. They challenge me to be a better teacher every day. Although I do not have kids, if I did I would trust any one of them to teach my children. -I can't speak on the behalf of leadership from the experience of a parent, but I can speak as a teacher. Leadership really takes a "horizontal" leadership view as opposed to "top down". They come to us for a lot, and we usually get the freedom to decide what is best. This can be both a pro and con, depending on the teacher's experience. We have a voice and a say, especially in our curriculum. This is something that many schools do not give their teachers. I personally thrive in this kind of environment. At the same time, it also means that teachers have a lot of responsibility, and need to have the drive to go into "uncharted territory". I also appreciate this leaderships efforts to incorporate both diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as social emotional learning into our staff and school culture. -Lastly, I can not begin to describe how much I love both the students and families at this school. I have created great relationships with my families, and even when they leave my classroom am so excited to see them in the halls. By no means is GPS a perfect school, and everyone will have their own unique experience. I can only speak to mine. I view this school as my second home, and look forward to the progress we will continue to make.
Submitted by teacher on February 26, 2021

You can judge a school by the perception of some, or you can discover for yourself and realize that one small instance has been held onto, and further small instances continued to build a false perception of the day to day at Growth Public School. There has been a lot of change over the years since the kickoff of the school, yes, but change is not always bad! The staff at GPS is now a cohesive, supportive, determined group of educators who devote so much of their extra time working on curriculum, discussing materials, bettering things for the students. It is true that sometimes, people don't fit with each other, and the environment might not be something that works for them. That is okay. I would rather have the staff currently at GPS than what has been. It should also be taken into consideration that unless you have started a school yourself, we do not know what it is to walk in the shoes of school leadership. The entire time I have worked for GPS I have felt immensely supported by administration as well as the rest of the staff.As far as the homework, there has been plenty of research done that says there is no actual effective purpose for homework; if anything, having students take work home to complete ends up confusing them more because parents/guardians are teaching them differently than we need them to perform in class. Nightly reading is required, with a reading log in most grades, and it is not our responsibility to make sure that homework gets done. It is hard to make homework productive when families do not input the same amount of effort into a student's education.