Canyon Middle School

I am currently an 8th grader at Canyon Middle School. My school is amazing! All of the teachers are great, and everyone gets involved. The school has aloud the art class to paint famous painting throughout the school, which allows us to remain creative. There are so many terrific opportunities the school provides for its students and all of them are amazing. The school takes many out of district transfer students and they just make our school family better. I couldn't ask for a better school.

The new API results just blew me away. I have always been happy with the level of instruction and the caliber of the students at the upper echelon, but often wondered about other subgroups at Canyon since it is such a large and diverse place. Well, the 2012 results show that Canyon made tremendous improvements all across the board! If you don't believe me, check our the scores for yourself at greatschools.com. This is a testament to our principal Mr. Crogan's tireless dedication to excellence and incredible leadership. Go Cougars!
—Submitted by a parent

I am a parent of a sixth grader at Canyon Middle School. As a parent I am impressed with the quality of the teachers and administration. The campus is very clean and well maintained. My daughter is very happy at this school. Her teachers provide her with challenging and creative projects. The academics are very strong. They have spirit days and extra events promote school pride.
—Submitted by a parent

canyon middle skool is a great school to be.....i am a 8 grade student nd i have been attendiing theis skool for 3 years nd im glad i go to canyon cause everyone here gets along...the teachers r reallly great nd nice..the only thing is that we cnt have cell phones after skool we have to be off campus to use it...i thinkt hats really unfair ......they taake ur fone away on the first time u use it nd the teacher sees it ..i think thats really unfair...
—Submitted by a student

i love this school i came here and everybody was so nice . it was so awsome going there and i hpoe you can to

Canyon Middle School is a great school. I am currently an 8th grader there, and I love my classes and teachers. Canyon has many teachers that were recognized as teacher of the year for CVUSD, and I can tell through their methods and styles of teaching. I am in leadership, and this class has really helped me learn to reach out to everyone in the school community and the community of Castro Valley. The only things that I would change are the dress code restrictions that are extreme, and are pointless, the cell phone rule that prohibits students to use their cell phone, even after school and at after school events even if they aren't on campus and the rule that restricts hugging. Last year I struggled in the feild of math, and I was called at home and my parents, my teacher and I all discussed how I could improve.
—Submitted by a student

Canyon is one huge family,,,it has its ups and a few downs, but the teachers are doing their best and I believe, at the unique ages of 12,13, and 14, the kids are trying hard to learn! A school is not a business,,,it is people coming togetther as a service,,,and Canyon is top notch in my opinion!
—Submitted by a teacher

Canyon is the first school in the alameda county to become a shcool to watch. Currently, i have two children there and they come home happy and proud. i have no problem with their school adittude. My son receives lots of attention from his teachers and if he is struggling, the school notices right away. They have a very wide rande of academic helps, including: peer to peer help, avid tutoring, library tutoring, cjsf turoring, and much much more. Also,there is a lot of variety of sports, like, football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, intermidial volleyball, soocer, badmittion, track, cross country,and much much more.
—Submitted by a parent

I used to go to this school. This school is the best. It's even better than the new school that just got built that I go to now!
—Submitted by a student

My son has been at Canyon since 6 grade. This is his last year & he has been struggling in a few classes. I appreciate the Teachers for communicating with me early on about his struggles. Together we are working to get him the tutoring he needs, and it is paying off. Teachers + Parent involvement = Student success. Canyon has Teachers who care and a Principal who has been there for YEARS and that makes a world of difference.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is a great school for my kids.
—Submitted by a parent

As a former student, I was excited for my son to attend Canyon this year. Unfortunately, this school does not seem to be what it once was. My son has had difficulties since the beginning of the year, I have attended countless conferences where I do not feel I was heard as counselors and teachers continually do not communicate problems with parents until it is too late and report cards are in. My son has always had troubles in school, but this year has been his worst academically to date. I only hope he passes to 7th grade, and plan on placing him into private school.
—Submitted by Disappointed Parent, a parent

I am an 8th grader here at canyon and I really enjoy our diverse community and helpful staff. This year many new kids came here, and the counseling staff did a great job handling all of the schedule changes. I have been in choir for all three years now and I love Mrs. Steidel. I'm also able to take a Spanish 1-2 class, and the 7th graders have Spanish for their exploratory (one quarter long) as well. We also have a great recource program, and a great academic program as well. I'm in Algebra 1, and some of my friends are in the geometry classes. We have tons of activities going on here, and we even have parent supervisors for lunch! I'm proud to say that my principal and vice principals are super nice, even if kids do complain about the scrict rules. I will miss Canyon next year.
—Submitted by a student

I have been at Canyon for 2 years now, and I think overall it is a great school. The principal and assistant principals are great. The teachers teach what they are supposed to teach, and the students make the school fun to attend. There are many sports programs and other extra curricular activities that make Canyon a great place. The campus is awesome, and I wouldn't ever imagine going to another middle school.
—Submitted by a student

As a former student, I thought that Canyon Middle School was a great school and I had many good experiences with the school. The staff was excellent, although I thought the administrators were too strict on certain things like the dres code and cell phone policy. Canyon Middle School is a great school with excellent staff and a beautiful campus.
—Submitted by a former student

My daughter is currently a 7th grader at Canyon, making it her second year here. I'm pleased with the school on some level and disappointed with it on another level. It's one of the better middle schools in the area and I happy that she's able to attend here, rather than one of the other schools. However, I'm disappointed that the teachers aren't the motivators that the children need. My daughter enjoys school for the friendships, but none of the teachers have provided an experience that would have her enjoy school for the learning.
—Submitted by a parent

It is a large school but it is great that the 6th grade is separated from the the rest of the school. It gives the freshman time to get used to the large school. There are excellent music and sport programs.
—Submitted by a parent

We have a daughter who attended Canyon for 2 years and we now have another daughter who just finished 6th grade there. We have been very happy with our children's experience there. Both had several excellent teachers, although I do know of a few teachers who could be better. We are most pleased with the leadership of the Principal at the school. We are very happy with his positive attitude and proactive approach to a few issues that have come up, regarding student discipline, etc. He is taking the school to new levels of excellence!
—Submitted by a parent

Well, sixth grade is done, and I have to say Canyon has been a big disappointment. Teacher quality has been very poor, with teachers not abiding by their own grading rubrics and making many grade-affecting attendance errors. What's worse, the school's priorities and judgement appear to be completely out of touch with a family environment. In every single class in the sixth grade, there is a 'no room for homophobia' sign hanging under the 'no room for racism' sign. This is shocking to me in a sixth grade environment. It's shocking to me in a public school environment.
—Submitted by Observant Parent, a parent

I personally think that my school is great, it's got a wonderful music program, involved teachers and fun year round activities. Everyone finds something they like there. The newly remodeled gym and locker rooms look great and so do the new classrooms. I love it at Canyon and i have to say, it's been the best 3 years of my life,...so far.
—Submitted by Monica Zhang, a student