Challenger - Harwood

4949 Harwood Rd

San Jose, CA 95124

27 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK, K-4
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on May 13, 2024

My kid has been attending this school for over 4 years and this is a great elementary school. Easy drop off and pick up without waiting in lines, clean environment, and great teachers who pay attention and report regularly on the progress. Covid time was difficult but school managed to pull through and this year the stage performances and participation in contests have bounced back.The homework is an hour long and manageable. There are tests every week on different subjects keeping the concepts refreshed and even though my kid doesn't enjoy math as much as other subjects, still performs really well. Overall happy with the choice.
Submitted by parent on May 18, 2017

in our experience, the first two years of elementary were great with the 2011-14 principal and they had some awesome teachers - two stars for that. But since 2014, after the old principal left and even those teachers no longer worked for Challenger, its been only deteriorating. We lost the interest as the teachers replaced were dishonest, the new principal and the program director incompetent in communication and managing core issues. We are happy to find a much better public school than Harwood where we paid tuition for their internal problems and incompetence to resolve it effectively. Please avoid enrolling in this campus, save your kids, time, energy and of course, money!!
Submitted by parent on April 10, 2017

Sharing our most recent 4th grade experience on this campus. A general observation about Challenger's method of education is the emphasis on memorization, rather than knowledge. Cramming curriculum with content from higher grades and lack of real teaching, does not raise the bar at all - you breed students with shallow depth yet seemingly good at reciting the memorized information.How do they teach Science? The teacher reads out content from a binder and writes notes on the board. Students copy the notes into their notebooks. Occasionally they will have demonstrations in class - one day the teacher brought pieces of sponge of varying sizes, and dipped each one in water, showing that the bigger sponge had more absorption than the smaller piece. On another occasion she got different types of rocks to show them to the class (but didn't feel it necessary to pass them around for students to see closely or touch). This is the quality of so-called science demonstrations - really lame. Compare and contrast to a public school (Guadalupe Elem) where groups of students themselves built a roller coaster track in the class using card paper and tape, as an experiment to learn about potential and kinetic energy. In Challenger, the same topic was only read out by the teacher from a binder and wrote notes on the board. Think again - in which environment will kids enjoy learning science ? (my daughter recently changed from Challenger to our public school and we are finding that in many ways, the public school is better). The public school had a field trip to Monterey Bay aquarium to learn about ocean's ecosystem too.I also want to clear up any myths about the science fair in Challenger - this is an exhibit of individual experiments done by students and their parents - teachers do not teach or contribute anything in this.You pay so much money to put your kids to Challenger to raise the bar, but your kids are not enjoying to learn and are only becoming good at memorization.History - again, teacher reads American history from her binder and writes notes on board, that students copy. Teacher will not bother to explain concepts such as tax, governance, etc. When you see words such as "entrepreneurship" in your kids' notes, be assured they have no clue what it means.Math, English are ok. Arts and PE are a joke. Overall, incompetent staff and especially bad management.
Submitted by parent on April 08, 2017

This is one of the worst campus. They terminated our enrollment because they couldn't resolve the bullying situation where the bully was challenger staff's daughter. When I approached her as mom she complained as challenger staff rather than amicably resolving the situation with me. When we escalated the matter to the regional director he directed that our daughter can retaliate if she chooses to and the situation be left with the kids to deal with while I should never contact the bullying child's mom. They assured us that I should step back for 3 months and trust them that situation will resolve, to which we agreed. But the fourth grade teacher disagreed as she was against retaliation and the whole situation became aggressive in last three months with increasing incidents that our daughter came home with. When I visited the class after three months, it was pathetic to see the teacher yelling at kids for petty reasons like going to each other's desk for art time while she neglected the bullying. When I approached her requesting about what was directed to us by the regional director and to set up a parent teacher conference to discuss the situation, she complained the principal that I was confronting with a raised voice in front of students!!! Such a lie and disrespect towards parents. The principal without having a word with us, left a voicemail for termination of enrollment with immediate effect!! They can tolerate bullying, name calling, treat kids like robots but cannot make a fair judgement when their own staff misuse their teacher policies to show power against parents!!! Please make a right choice while enrolling your child further to save from these incompetent bunch of liars and bad values.
Submitted by other on March 09, 2015

I use to be a student here, and everything was great and all (little sports), but then I wonder, where are the foreign languages?
Submitted by parent on September 10, 2014

I am so thankful for everything that my daughter learned at Challenger School at the Harwood campus. My daughter loved going to school every day, and I attributed that to her caring teachers. Her first grade teacher helped my daughter to develop a strong sense of independence and responsibility. For instance, my daughter does not like to getting up in the morning. It was a struggle to get her out of bed, dressed, and fed in time to leave. As the school year progressed, she was dressing herself and making her own breakfast by December. My daughter also has shown some amazing responsibility. We bought her a fish. She continues to care for him. I credit her independence and responsibility to her education at Challenger School. Academically, I know that a lot of people feel that Challenger School is all about math, grammar and science, but my daughter also enjoyed writing, singing, and music. My daughter was singing her Spring Program songs every night as we drove home. Socially, I watched her develop great friendships last year. She also learned to deal with interpersonal conflicts with maturity and confidence. Simply put, I love Challenger School.
Submitted by parent on October 08, 2013

My child has been attending Challenger since the beginning of the year and I have seen a great improvement in her ability to speak, convey messages but particularly her critical thinking process. I know this progress is a culmination of the standard practices and curriculum from Challenger. The staff is friendly, the school is impeccably clean. I look forward to sending my 2nd child there as soon as she is of age!!
Submitted by parent on April 12, 2013

My daughter attends the preschool program at Harwood and she LOVES it! I can't believe how much she's learned in such a short period of time. When I pick her up, she always tells me that she wants to stay. When it's the weekend, she begs me to take her to school. No matter what time of the day I enter her class, I hear music and see happy children. Yes, this school teaches phonics and math as early as 3 years old but that really doesn't matter to me. My child is safe, happy and well-cared for when she's at school which is great because when I drop her off, I need to have peace of mind. If I don't have peace of mind when I drop off, what's the point of sending her to school? I might as well take care of her myself. I also like that the demographics of the students at this campus because it is so diverse. I only wished Challenger offered programs to younger children because I have a son who is ready to go but is still too young to attend.
Submitted by parent on September 30, 2012

Fifth grade for my child has been going really great so far. I was horrified to read about everything that went on in the fifth grade class last year. I was almost going to withdraw my child out. On visor card day, we were really happy to find out that one of the most respected teacher will be my child's teacher in fifth grade this year. This teacher is knowledgable, kind, dedicated and very organized. She even called me to discuss my child's progress on a weekend. My child is loving school because of her. I am glad that Challenger takes parents' concerns and act on them.
Submitted by parent on May 27, 2012

I can't believe it but my kid has SEVEN TESTS this week in grade 5!. All subjects in TWO day!. Homework load is unbelievable! TWENTY TWO PAGES math weekend homework last Friday! We canceled holiday plans.
Submitted by parent on May 25, 2012

Our kids and many family members have been at Challenger School for many years. We love Challenger School but have seen its decline through the years. We've stayed on despite a large exodus of its student body a few years ago. Many experienced teachers have left and there are only basically a handful of experienced quality teachers remaining : second and third grades. Some newer teachers are young, inexperienced, disorganized and awful : third and fifth. We also heard that Challenger does not work hard at retaining their experienced teachers, resulting in the loss of enrolment each year. Admin is poor and does not seem to monitor progress well. After all they are not teachers. We are seriously considering leaving if things do not improve.
Submitted by parent on April 28, 2012

Why is the spring program such a big deal at challenger? for the past 2 weeks my son's 5th grade class has been spending almost half a day each school day practising instead of studying. the academics is being neglected. my friends from another campus said that their 5th grade son is far ahead of where my son is for almost all subjects. isn't academics most important at challenger school?
Submitted by parent on April 01, 2012

I agree that the Harwood Challenger School is a good one. My kid has been there for many years and we've had no problems with the school. I also understand the grievances the parent who suggested leaving after 4th has. To add to the review, that afore-mentioned teacher is frequently late for class and late to return tests. I can bet that many bad reviews I've read here must have been about her because otherwise Harwood is a great school to put your kid in. They just need to be more proactive in replacing the bad apples..
Submitted by parent on March 29, 2012

My daughter is fairly new to the school and in the K program. She came in mid-year and so far, we are very pleased with the school. I would say that initially, the process of understanding some of the administrative things was a little unclear, but after I went to the office myself for clarification, I've found communication much better. Academically my daughter has excelled since she has been there, learned a lot of new concepts, and enjoys all aspects. She has 2 teachers and she enjoys them both very much. I've found them to be very organized and the homework has seemed very reasonable for this age. My daughter partcipates in the extended care program. She does Soccer, Softball and Drama and gets homework done every day there. I read some of the reviews about being too academic, and initially we shyed away from that type of school but it seems that the way Challenger teaches so far, has made learning fun. The expectations are clear and the rewards are for accomplishments. My daughter made friends quickly which I was concerned about joining mid-year. Who knows what the next years hold, but for now, we are happy.
Submitted by parent on March 17, 2012

Without a doubt this is the best Challenger School campus but the worst fifth grade. Start at pre-school to fourth grade for their wonderful teachers and then leave. This is my advice.
Submitted by parent on February 11, 2012

I am frustrated and compelled to write. My child had a test on every single subject this week: math, science, history, logic, literature, spelling, vocabulary, poem. Next week barely any test. This is not the first time. Doesn't the teacher have any sense? Why can't tests be staggered? We like the academics at Challenger School but this is insane.
Submitted by parent on February 10, 2012

great school with great academics. my children have learnt so much. no problems with this challenger school. best year this year, third. experienced organized fun teacher.
Submitted by parent on February 10, 2012

We love Challenger School. We love our child's teacher and we have her two years in a row. Hopefully next year again and again.
Submitted by parent on February 06, 2012

The Best 4th Grade Teacher!!! We have two children at Challenger and have always been happy, but this year has been fantastic! Ms. Plasencia has really helped our daughter build her confidence. She is constantly happy and excited to tell us things that we went on in class. I highly recommend this campus.
Submitted by parent on January 15, 2012

facility - great, front desk - average, admin - good, teachers - mixed bunch but mostly good, students - polite, well-behaved The preschool program is the best around, teaching kids to read at 3-4 yrs, elementary is good depending on who you get. I agree that they do not try harder to keep good teachers so it's your luck which teacher your child gets. Mine got a teacher who is disorganized, does not return tests until a month later, skips lessons and subjects. Lots of teaching at home because teacher does not teach properly. Past years were fine but this year is not. Depends who you get. Checking out middle school options. I welcome suggestions.