King (Starr) Elementary School

1215 Carolina Street

School District

San Francisco Unified
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:14
Type

public

School Map for San Francisco 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 November 28, 2023

Our family has had two kids go through Starr King Elementary School. They both enjoyed learning and making friends here. The teachers are dedicated, caring, and do well at their job. I’m impressed with the principal and her leadership in improving all areas of the school. There is great attention to improving the GE program and balancing out inequities. The YMCA-run afterschool program is great.
Submitted by parent on October 11, 2023

PROS: My son has been a student at Starr King since K, he’s in 5th grade now. The principal at Starr King is one of the best in the district, and she’s done a ton in her tenure to make improvements to the school facilities, retain teachers and encourage integration between the mandarin and English programs. The teachers especially truly care for the students and leave lasting positive learning impressions on the students at a critical time. Starr King also has a highly engaged parent community which both through volunteering and fundraising, supplements sports and celebrations and special trips to the usual SFUSD program. In my son’s 6 years he’s learned enough mandarin to feel comfortable in mandarin speaking countries when we travel.CONS: The SFUSD math programs are pretty weak. It’s not the fault of the school but most families find themselves supplementing math through other afterschool programs.
Submitted by parent on April 07, 2023

I like this school, it's really good.
Submitted by other on March 13, 2023

I used to go to Starr King. I was in the MI program and it was great, but those in the GE program got less support and attention. In short the MI program is great but the GE program sucks. I now go to a private MI middle school and I’m realizing that Starr King had some really great Chinese teachers. The private school I go to now had about the same quality of Chinese learning as Starr King did for costing 30 k more. I would say that Starr king offers great teaching and opportunities, but only for those who want them. Like many other public schools, if you try hard at the school you’ll get tons out of it, but if you don’t try, you won’t get much out of it. The teachers won’t tell you to try harder, or focus personally on you. The kids there are great.
Submitted by parent on December 17, 2019

We have had many positive experiences at this school interacting with the - the leadership, the educators, and participating in events with strong the parent community.
Submitted by parent on March 21, 2019

My child attended both the Mandarin Immersion and English programs at Starr King. Both programs were great and the teachers are *excellent.* The principal is a wonderful guiding force at the school. We will send your younger child there when he is old enough.
Submitted by parent on October 18, 2018

It's an outstanding learning community with many opportunities for parents to become involved . PTA is strong and works hard to enhance school program.
Submitted by parent on July 22, 2018

This school has two programs: General Education and Mandarin Immersion.The GE program is highly segregated: african american and hispanic kids, low income familiesMandarin Immersion: wealthy white and asian kidsGE: bad scoresMI: good scoresMaybe a little fraud going on here with the assignment process. Smart people taking advantage of the CT1P area. My best advice if you are lucky to live in the bayview or areas with CT1P don't think twice and list this school as #1 choice. If you are low income and have that big advantage living in a CT1P area list this school. Don't list Starr King GE. List Starr King MI(mandarin immersion) so your kid will get better access to school resources and you will be helping MI with the diversity issue. Low income people, let's take advantage of the MI program =o) Get your child in the MI program and make our MI program more racially and income diverse.
Submitted by parent on July 16, 2018

An amazing SF public school, an a microcosm of urban challenges its neighborhood, Potrero Hill, and San Francisco in general, faces as gentrification falls upon it.
Submitted by parent on May 04, 2018

The school is able to prepare my child for life's challenges.
Submitted by parent on October 28, 2016

We have three children in the Mandarin Immersion program at Starr King and we love it. The Starr King community is awesome! There are challenges, just as there are in any public school in SF, like how to best serve a wide and diverse student body, how to retain teachers in a city with such a high cost of living... But the parents, teachers, and administration actively work together to try to tackle and overcome these challenges. My kids love their school, their teachers, their friends, their community! And as an extra bonus they are learning Mandarin too!
Submitted by parent on January 14, 2016

This school has decided to use the Shang Shang text book instead of Zhongwen as the official text book, which is a huge disappointment in the school and program, though the school in recent years have put together their own practice book, which is too little too late. Wiki "chinese language" and you'll see that one requires about 3000 unique characters to read the chinese newspaper while this school teaches at about 811 in 6 years. Additionally, math and science is taught in Mandarin, which was something I strongly oppose along with many parents.This school feeds into Aptos MI middle school which teaches history in mandarin for 3 years along with chinese language arts. This will be very boring. Why can't mandarin be taught using elective hours instead of teaching mandarin in the hours devoted to history? Both MI at Starr King and Aptos have vacant seats. As for Star King MI, I feel bad for new immigrants who know not a word of english, yet their kids are sent into this program where little time is spent on english while the program can't possibly teach them enough chinese. Since the chinese component sucks anyway, the program should allocate 50% of the time in english in all subjects.6th graders at Aptos MI uses the 6th book of Mei Zhou. Research and know what you're getting your kids into before applying for MI, and don't believe what you read online about MI as much of it are false promises with much sacrifice and little to be gained, at least here. If you're really interested in mandarin immersion, check out nanhaibooks.com and visit the store with parents who are native chinese and see what they say regarding the books and standards.Finally, I'd like to see Starr King be a dedicated MI school without GE, this way, the api score does not mask a bad GE program while at the same time, SKMI can more accurately be compared academically to other immersion schools. Otherwise, it is a crime! However, this is not possible because the MI program is not impacted. Originally, MI was brought to the school to save the GE program / school.I would not hesitate to ask why are there many empty seats at both skmi and aptos mi. Also ask about the turn over rate of both teachers and students, and why. I wonder, isn't it in the best interest of the students to combine the mi's at jose ortega and starr king into one mi?
Submitted by parent on December 07, 2015

Unless your Kid is in the Mandarin Immersion program, this school is a joke. I had both my kids here while Mr. Rosenberg, and Mr. John were the principals.. things were great, then. Since, it got pretty sad ... If your child is GENERAL ED they get the short end of the stick. They seem to gear all the programs and activities to the children in the mandarin immersion program. my child was coming home with no homework, spoke to the principal more than 2x and nothing was done. her efforts are with MI kids, who happen to be white and Chinese. And the proof is in all these reviews of parents raving of how great the MI program is for their kids, and how happy they are. how they hire these great teachers for the MI kids.... My son has had subs come in and out for the past 2 years.....
Submitted by parent on August 26, 2015

The upgraded facility is among one of the best in the city. This school year we see many young and energetic new teachers are hired. It has been a historical problem in San Francisco's Chinese immersion program: people who are highly proficient in Chinese are not qualified to teach in the States because of their limited English proficiency; people who can obtain a California teaching credential are hardly ever a Chinese language expert. However, this year, Starr King has made a big step forward by successfully hiring some credentialed teachers who are also native speakers of Chinese, especially a 3rd grade teacher who majored in Chinese and received her Chinese teaching training in China! This teacher brings in so much innovative approach that we've never seen in Mandarin teaching in America, and this teacher's English teaching skill is surprisingly good and amazing! I really want to thank principal Cheong for hiring such an excellent bilingual biliterate teacher. Now I am confident that our child will be getting solid Mandarin immersion education at Starr King!
Submitted by parent on April 06, 2015

We have been a Starr King family for two years. My son is a 1st grader in the MI program. So far, it's been a great experience for our family. He's had great teachers and is really engaged, and our whole family is part of a warm, connected, supportive parent community. I'm also a big fan of principal Wendy Cheong, who joined the school at the same time we did. She is a strong leader who emphasizes teacher training and retention.
Submitted by parent on April 06, 2015

Our child is in the Mandarin Immersion program and loves it there. She loves the teachers and has made good friends as well. She has been steadily learning more and more Chinese and it has just about surpassed my own knowledge! There is a very active PTA. The location isn't a draw, but we have never experienced any problems. Child #2 is starting kindergarten next year, so that's the biggest sign of our happiness with Starr King.
Submitted by parent on February 18, 2015

We have two daughters enrolled in Starr King and we are pleased with the level of education they are receiving. We also like the community and the new Principal. We are in the Mandarin Immersion program.
Submitted by parent on February 15, 2015

Our kindergarten class just listed several more field trips this year--in addition to a great program at Davies Symphony Hall, the classes just went to Chinatown, and will also add Crissy Field, the Academy of Science and Citibank to their trip list in the second half of the school yr. A volunteer task force is putting together a plan to improve classroom technology for the classes... So still a thumbs up for SK If you are debating between Cantonese and Mandarin Immersion, you'll want to know that Mandarin is far more dominant.
Submitted by parent on August 18, 2014

Starr King is a great school getting even better, in my view. My daughter is in the 2nd grade there, in the Mandarin program. The school has a principal who is wonderful -- dedicated, very able, and with respect to the Mandarin curriculum in particular is working for continuous improvements. My daughter is entering her third year at the school and so far has had tremendous teachers -- conscientious, thoughtful, really skilled, caring. The parents community is really dedicated too. Some people wish that Mandarin progress would happen more quickly, but to me it's just about perfect. Studies show progress in Mandarin happens more slowly than with other languages, it has been proven in research across cultures. Finally, I've had nothing but good experiences with the school's administrative staff. In the coming year, the facilities' upgrade will be complete. I am entirely happy that I chose Starr King for my daughter. I would do so again.
Submitted by parent on June 26, 2014

We never thought that Starr King would be a good choice when we picked school for our little girl. It turned us down at the beginning just because it was next to the biggest low-income housing project in the city. Our daughter was placed in one of the schools in Chinatown. We decided to transfer our kid to Starr King after we heard from a trusted friend whose daughter is going there. After one year, we affirmed that it was the right decision. Best I can say: involved parents, passionate teachers, dedicated principal and nice staff. As my daughter said, even the lunch lady was nicer; the custodian lady was a friendly boss in the cafeteria. I always believed that Chinese classes should only be prepared for kids from Chinese families until I saw all those wonderful non-Chinese Kinders spoke so fluent in the Kindergarten graduation. Good job Kinder teachers!