Challenger School - Shawnee

500 Shawnee Lane

San Jose, CA 95123

11 Reviews

School District
Grade

PK, K-8
Type

private

Find Homes for Sale in this School Zone

Reviews

Submitted by other on July 31, 2023

As a previous student, this school has been the worst school I have ever attended. All was okay until I reached third grade. The school was just really rude. The teachers looked like they didn't even care about the students and they gave hate comments to me. But in fourth grade, it was the worst imaginable. When kids bullied me and when I went to tell the teachers, the teachers didn't care at all. They honestly didn't care if anyone was hurt. I don't want to point out any of my teacher's names but there were a lot of mean teachers. The tests were so hard and they didn't even teach us. They would just write some notes on the board and we would write in on our notebook. Once covid came, I begged my parents to leave the school. Now, I am really happy attending the school I am in. I also found a few of my friends that used to be in Challenger attending the same school that I did. And when I asked them their experience in Challenger, they also said bad things about the staff and the school. If any parents looking at this review are thinking to put their kids in Challenger, I am warning you that you will regret it.
Submitted by parent on February 11, 2023

I am posting this review based on my thorough knowledge and experience on how effective this school has been for my son. If you are someone new looking to enroll your child from say 2nd 3rd or 4th grade, don't do it! They are for sure going to treat that child as if he or she is inferior to other students who's already there from preschool or kindergarten. To begin with, the teachers are claimed to be qualified but they certainly are not CREDENTIALED under state board of California which means they do not go for any training other than being briefed by their management on how to handle things. Some of the teacher's at this campus do not possess a good understanding on subjects like history and science and they grade the test paper simply based on their answer guide. Their teacher often based on their notes which i guess anyone could do it. I am not saying they are good teachers but i'm sure they are sound in all the subjects being though. Furthermore this school does not have a dedicated science lab. For subjects like literature, no matter how well your child has answered their test, the teacher would give them a mediocre score for some reason and i'm seeing this after 1 year of observing their pattern. Other child (mostly their favorites) would score more even when their response only meets minimum criteria for scoring. (confirmed this from my child through their best work board) . Next, the teachers do not CHECK the homework and your child may come home with an incorrect work. The amount of homework is fine even though it is considered a little too much for an elementary grade but the problem is, they have tests every week which i think it's a little unreasonable. Student council board is another joke here. The rule to stay as a class rep is not to get a grade below 75 or 80 in any subjects, so the teacher would always make them stay within or well above the range. you rarely have an opportunity to stay in touch directly with your child's teacher. It is always through the management. I mean, what in the world are they afraid of?The most interesting part of their test system is, it is basically a repeated test questions from the point of Challenger inception. So, let's say if the student has an older sibling here, the younger one will somehow know what's coming ahead for the test.
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2018

Sorry, I don't find Challenger to be my money's worth!
Submitted by other on October 27, 2016

I agree with the most recent posts about name calling. I can tell my nephew has had a bad day nearly every time he comes home, and he's only in preschool. The names used in previous posts were very accurate. He mentionsaid to us that Ms. Varsha is always raising her voice to not only him but to everybody else in his group. Yes, there are different groups. I heard that they are separated into higher and lower learning abilities. He will not be coming back next year. Front office ignores complaints towards their teachers and act as if it's ok.
Submitted by other on October 20, 2016

The work load is too much and they expect too much from the kids. The new leadership specially the principal is terrible. They are too rigid to listen to suggestions and implement them. Always puts the blame on headquarters for anything you ask from them.
Submitted by parent on November 13, 2015

I have a preschooler at shawnee campus. One day my child came home telling me that the teacher used words on her like dumb, cuckoo, etc on her. I WAS 100% sure it came from the teachers because we d'ont use such words at home. NEVER! The staffs pretend to be nice when the parents are around but in classroom reality, i seriously think they don't treat each children with passion. We are thinking to withdraw our child from this campus.
Submitted by parent on March 09, 2013

Our daughter attended the pre-K at this campus. The academic program was strong but they teach zero social skills (which is arguably as important as academics at that early age). There is no communication between teachers/parents at all. It's felt like this was a NSA/CIA facility. It was very frustrating, as they just keep you in a dark (we even sent notes to teacher trying to get some communication going). Kids might get great test scores, no argument there, but I don't want my kids to grow up weirdo robots ;) Teachers make no effort to help get kids more involved and play together - they seem to only care about academics (I can understand this for middle/high, but for PK this is ridiculous!). Parent participation is not allowed and they walk each child separately from/to car before/after school so you have to make extra effort to get to know the parents and organize afterschool activities if you want your kid to have any friends. It's run like a business not school. Only thing they were interested discussing with us was about when our younger kid would join the school, instead of about our kid who was already attending. One star for PK. Higher grades are probably not as bad.
Submitted by parent on August 22, 2012

This school has been going downhill! My daughter attended for PS & PK which was good even though parent involvement was not great. We were not allowed to participate. However, I was willing to overlook all this & registered my son for his PS experience. Not only did the office neglect to inform me of a change in policy (uniforms required for preschoolers) but they were sending communications to my sister who was listed as an emergency contact. I discovered the uniform policy a week before school started since I learned I forgot to mail my son's physician form. You can imagine my shock & when I requested a refund for poor information disclosed of a major change in policy, I was informed I could not get my refund which also included tuition that my son never even attended. A poorly run school. They should rename the school from Challenger to "A Challenged" school. Obviously the school is more interested in trying to wheezle money from hard working parents than to do the right thing when they clearly goofed. I normally do not write reviews but I want to warn other parents from dealing with this. If you want a caring staff try Stratford..what a difference...it is like night and day!
Submitted by parent on August 18, 2012

This is the third year my daughter is going to this school, and she will be in 2nd grade this year. It is very well structured, the material is advanced compared to other schools. Kids are involved in a lot of programs and parents are notifed weeks in advanced. Teachers are always available to talk to. Been very happy with the school, as far as overall organization. Keep up the excellent work.
Submitted by parent on June 08, 2012

My experience with Challenger for 4 yrs. I noticed, the way they are running the school was not appreciable. There is no Teacher and Parent involvement. They try to avoid meeting parents even if you insist. They have young authors award, speech contest, merit award... these also happen without letting the parents know. The winners' parents are ONLY invited for the award ceremony. They don't invite other parents to avoid the consequences. This school is VERY SECRETIVE. The current teachers who my kid had for this year were bad. They literally yell and scream at the kids. Are they running a slavery?? The words they are using are so harsh. The teachers don't have the capability to handle 20 kids in a class.very bad, All the parents know what's happening in the school, but they don't come forward to complain to the management just because the teachers pick on the kids. Lots of kids in my child's class are examples. Challenger should understand that the school is running just because of the wonderful parents. What If they pull out the kids from the school? try to be open with parents. stay positive with kids. do not bring their self esteem down. They are the future America!
Submitted by parent on August 11, 2011

Why are so many parents withdrawing from Shawnee? Too many parents have opted out of this campus and have either moved to a different Challenger campus or to a different school. We have been with the school for 7 years and have seen a gradual decline in its teaching quality. The dwindling count of good, experienced teachers is sadly alarming, especially in the higher grades. The Principal (aka Headmaster) is extremely diffident and lacks the skill sets to bring any positive changes. We stuck around for a long time hoping to see things turn around for the better. But with a looming middle school ahead, we finally took the plunge and have moved to a different campus this year. I hope the administrators put their acts together before it is too late!