Great Expectations Academy

GEA is a fantastic school that focuses on providing quality education and learning. My youngest son and youngest daughter started going here during the 2012 school year and both have dramatically improved in all areas of study, especially my son. When he attended another local school, he was failing and could not even read at his then current grade level. Now...he is reading and performing better in all the other subjects. He has grown by leaps and bounds educationally, which in turn has helped with his confidence and I credit this to the quality education, small class sizes as well as very devoted teachers who truly make sure "no student is left behind". My son is currently on an IEP for speech and learning and with that "extra attention" he is able to get here, truly has made a huge difference with him. I am so grateful that both him and his sister have the opportunity of going to this great school! Oh, and did I mention the parents!! The parent involvement and volunteering is wonderful, which also helps with my children's quality education.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is by far the best in the area with truly dedicated teachers and staff. You will see many parents involved and they have events all year. Kids absolutely this school. I love the art and music enrichment. Feels like a big family bc everyone knows everyone and helps out. They've made some campus updates and middle school teachers are amazing. I volunteer five days a week and see a lot the behind the scenes stuff, and can say this staff is truly wonderful and committed to making this school fantastic.
—Submitted by a parent

My son attends kinder at this school and he absolutely loves it. The smaller environment is perfect for him, he adores his teacher, the afterschool YMCA program is fantastic, and he is learning and growing leaps and bounds. In my humble opinion, a childs first experience at school is crucial to their future success. How positive the experience is has everything to do with having a nurturing, structured, and safe environment for learning. GEA offers all of this and more to my child. Sincere thanks to GEA administration and staff for an exemplary program!
—Submitted by a parent

As a parent with children in the school as well as children who have gone on from here to do well in high school, I strongly disagree with the previous review. My experience has been that the school leadership strives for excellence in academics as well as citizenship, takes pride in an atmosphere of caring and respect, and always has the best interest of the students as their bottom line. The administration is comprised of very qualified individuals who do an excellent job in a very challenging bureaucratic and economic atmosphere and have managed to grow the school in its 13 years to a place where students and teachers alike can feel a sense of achievement and belonging. Every year my children attend this school better things happen both inside and outside the classroom and I am grateful to have the opportunity for them to attend GEA. Finally, I will state my opinion as to the preceding review: Anyone with an ax to grind can say negative things about a school or its leadership. Saying them does not make them true.
—Submitted by a parent

I would give this school a sub-mediocre rating. My child has attended this school for several years and I have come to realize the leadership is happy with mediocrity. The discipline is appalling, mainly because there is none, the person taking over the leadership has no college degree and there is no person trained for overseeing or developing curriculm and instruction. The teachers here are not observed by a professional and are offered no feedback. They are not required to teach standards, they have no set curriculum. This school helps to keep Arizona last in the nation. I have no idea why anyone would want to keep their child here. Parents you are fooled to think just because it is small , it is better
—Submitted by a parent

The 'events' (mother/son and father/daughter, etc) at the school were done with the help of parent volunteers. As a parent involved in helping to put on these past events, I am very aware of the work involved in making them happen and that it takes many people to help. Times have changed and alot of families now have both parents working, which doesn't allow for alot of extra volunteer time. If these (or other events) are/were important to you, there is a parent organization that you could have been involved in and perhaps you could have taken the initiative to help organize an event. The ability for parents to get involved in their childs school/education is one of the great things about this school.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is the best! The teachers are excellent always challenging kids to do their best. Besides music, band, library, art, P.E., & computers they have an astronomy club and Spanish classes.
—Submitted by a parent

I have had children enrolled here for 7 of its 10 years in existence. In my opinion GEA gets better every year. Teachers and support staff are competent and caring, parents are involved and students are excited about learning. I feel that bringing my children to GEA was the best decision I could have made for their early education.
—Submitted by a parent

The learning trend in this school is falling like a rock. Look at the State and district statistics. Teachers are not prepared.
—Submitted by a parent

I have two children at GEA. This school has been such a blessing to my family. I LOVE the class sizes, the ciriculum and it does have alot of extra-ciricular activiities for a small school. My child really likes this school compared to the other he attended in Sahuarita.
—Submitted by a parent

This is my childs 3rd yr at GEA and we love the school and the staff. She has had excellent teachers. We are extremely grateful to the administration for all their hard work, keeping the school running. We especially enjoy the small class size. If you are looking for a school that prides itself in higher eduation. GEA is for you.
—Submitted by a parent

GEA is a great school with great teachers,great students, and a great administration. Anyone who says 'your child will suffer',if your not a parent volunteer, should get a reality check. That is not what GEA is about. The goal is for every child to succeed. Do watch out for the 'clicks' and 'favoritism' though. Luckily 99.9% of that problem is at a different school this year! Rock On GEA!
—Submitted by Justin Byron, a parent

My children currently attend GEA and so far so good. We have been here a couple years.Yet I am prepared to pull my children out at any time.The teachers grade K-2 are great.Especially Mrs. Salerno if it was not for her we would not have returned back to the school this year.She is awesome! Although I have nothing good to say about the administration. My best advice to you is look out for the clicks and the favortizem.At this school it is all about parent volunteers,and if you are not one of the parents able to volunteer your child will suffer.
—Submitted by a parent

My daughter graduated from GEA in 2005. My son is graduating this year (2007). When my daughter went on to H.S., we discovered that she and many of her friends that also attended this school were far advanced in many subjects. Math was one area. The things they were teaching in their freshman year, they had already learned at GEA. Many skipped freshman science and were moved to Sophomore biology for their freshman year! Many of them also went into the english honors class. They didn't obtain this education on their own, so I give that credit to their education at GEA. My son is going into his freshman year with english and science honors classes. I think the class sizes were a big part of it. So what if the parents play a big part! What's wrong with that kind of involvement?
—Submitted by a parent

My son has attended Great Expectations for 4, going on 5 years now, and I would say it is hands down the best school in the area (including Tucson). The small class sizes, and individual attention make for an excellent learning environment, while any problems that come up are quickly dealt with by the administration in a proactive way. The school also has a great art program and a high level of parent involvement.
—Submitted by a parent

This will probably be the last year my students are at GEA. They are good for grades K-2, but weak after that. It is adminstratively very weak and short sighted and over the long run, our children lose out for this. I like the small class sizes and we'll miss that next year, but we need a more unified, well directed school.
—Submitted by a parent

My son has been here three weeks, he is already reading better! He is in special ed for reading and was stagnant at another school. I am so happy to listen to him read. Better yet, he is so proud!
—Submitted by a parent

Five year old school. Growing and adding on. Moving in the right direction. Nice alternative to public school.
—Submitted by a parent

Quality of academics is outstanding! My 2 children have been GEA for the past 6 years. We are a small intimate school that relys on parent involvment in the 'extras' Tax credit dollars cover wonderful programs as band, chime bells and after school sports.
—Submitted by Shauna Melvin, a parent

We currently have 3 children enrolled @ Great Expectations, 1 of them just started this year. The child that enrolled this year comes from a school that passed him along all the way through with all f's that magically became d's at pass or fail time. Since he has began @ Great Expectations he has had a lot of one on one and has not had a grade below C all year!!!! Which can only happen when you are dealing with a very caring and professional staff. I drive about 700 miles a week just to take my children to this charter school each week, even with as tiring and expensive (gas and maintenance) as it can become at times, it is worth every second of it.