Rhoades School

I am an 8th grader at the Rhoades School and I have been at Rhoades since kindergarten. Rhoades is like my second home. I have Mrs. Stanley, or as one person calls her the "literature teacher", for math, history and literature and we enjoy every day we have together. In math, if I don't get something she will explain it to me 5 or more times until I get it. Math is one of my worst subjects, but I would like to let everyone know I have an A in math right know and it isn't just me. Our entire math class has a class average of an 88%, which is AMAZING! All the teachers and students are caring and nice and are always willing to help. I have been at this school for 9 years and had barely any drama with the other girls. If you are even thinking about going to Rhoades, listen to me.

I am a current student of The Rhoades School and a student of this so called "literature teacher" and I have nothing negative to say about this amazing, heartwarming, and the nicest teacher I have had the privilege to have as a teacher for the past three years. The difference between this teachers and any other teacher out there is, she truly cares about her students leaning the material and she is there every morning. My proof is in her actions and not her words, when a child is sick she makes them tea, when a student is injured she is willing to do as much as she can to ensure they will end up in good health. I know I can speak for all of my classmates when I say, the literature teacher is the best math, history, literature, and English, teacher I am blessed and lucky have had the opportunity to call my teacher and partially like a second mother to look after me.

Rhoades is a small school with a close-knit group of students and some great, experienced teachers. The students like learning and want to do well. Teachers didn t always listen to our student, but we felt that overall people there cared and had the students best interests at heart. Our child was doing well. Music, field trips, summer camp, and good friends made it great. We heard other parents say Rhoades was not the best for middle school. We kept our student at Rhoades and sadly found out for ourselves. Most of the teachers are good. But we no longer believe The Rhoades School is most concerned about the students or even cares. How sad to be so happy our student is no longer there!
--Submitted by a parent

I was very disappointed with the middle school math program. There is only one math teacher. Students break into different classes for math. One class has the math teacher. The other math classes are taught by the literature teacher or writing teacher. One year the math teacher taught algebra. The next year geometry. My student was in the writing teacher's math class one year. We expected the "math" teacher the next year. Instead our student had the literature teacher for math. The median grade for students in algebra was 72. Algebra is a big leap from earlier math skills. It needs to be taught by someone who is very knowledgeable, adaptable, and able to teach well to all students. The Rhoades School needs to invest more in their middle school math students!
--Submitted by a parent

I was a student at the rhoades school for many years. I would like to start of this review by saying, the elementary school was great... the middle school? not so much. When I transferred to this school in 2nd grade from Aviara Oaks Elementary, I was delighted with challenging curriculum and friends who were intelligent like me. I had a great time at this school up until 5th grade. I noticed the bullying got really bad! Girls would all talk about eachother behind their backs and there was a clear cut "cool" group and "freak" group. Same goes for the boys! I was surprised because aren't private schools supposed to have less bullying problems than public? Apparently not, because when I moved to Diegueno Middle (I moved because the math program for middle school at Rhoades was horrid and there weren't enough people in my grade) I noticed there wasn't really any bullying. There wasn't a "cool crowd" or a "nerd group". People could just be who they wanted without getting labeled. So if you're thinking about sending your child to this school for social reasons, I would think twice.

With the state of public schools in San Diego, thank God for the Rhoades School. My son won 1st place in the State Science fair and is now onto a very bright future in high school. My daughter is thriving beyond our imaginations. This is truly a school that provides first class gifted personalized education. We are so blessed to have Rhoades available to us.
--Submitted by a parent

I give this school a 4 star rating, due to the fact it has an excellent Elementary School program, but subpar Middle School. In Elementary School, I was able to accelerate ahead in the Mathematics and Sciences, as well as develop crucial writing skills as all these were taught at a young age at the Rhoades. But when Middle School came around, I realized its history curriculum and literature curriculum were quite basic. We only covered 3 topics of the Ancient World during our 6th grade studies in history, and literature proved to be no more than the reading of prosaic novels. The mathematics at the school is advanced during Elementary school, but proves to be awkward during Middle School, as it slows down after years of accelerating. The Sciences at the school and the Spanish being taught are both excellent and informative. The Science teacher is probably the best I've ever had, and I would like to say best in the state. The Spanish teacher was also very devoted and an excellent teacher. But with the curricular aspect aside, the school has excellent Music program. The fact students compose music as an added part of the curriculum is a great. I'd go here for elementary, not middle.

Our daughter is just finishing her first year at The Rhoades School and had a great year. I'm a bit shocked by the March 15, 2011 review because it does not match the school we have come to know. The school is academically rigorous and, if anything, is becoming more so. Part of that rigor is giving children project-based assignments to complete outside of class. The younger kids are expected to have help from their parents; however, the older kids are expected to manage their time and complete the projects on their own. From what I've seen, most are able to do so without undue difficulty. There is definitely a problem with middle school attrition, but it is mostly caused by the fact the desired private high schools start at 7th grade. I have not seen any disrespect between teachers and students and the faculty seems very close-knit. Although the school is not perfect, it is certainly far superior to public school where unimaginative curriculum and perpetual testing is the norm. We are very happy we're making the sacrifice to send our daughter here and every other parent we've talked with feels the same way.
--Submitted by a parent

Unfortunately the academics and teachers have deteriorated greatly over the past few years at Rhoades. As parents we are told that the curriculum is at least a grade level ahead in all subjects. This does not seem to be the case in several subjects, which students and parents discover when they transfer to another school. There are many "at-home projects" throughout the year in which the parents have to edit, supervise and assist the child with the entire project. Isn't that the job of the teacher and school? The science fair report and project are done entirely at home, not at school. The teachers seem frustrated and overwhelmed. They do not seem to respect the students and in turn the students learn to disrespect their teachers and their peers. They are losing middle school students at an alarming rate due to these reasons. Parents are realizing they can get as good an education, if not better,at a local public school. It is inexcusable that the school has lowered their standards so much to the detriment of the students.They have become a business looking out for their profits and lost their compassion for their students.
--Submitted by a parent

We have three children currently enrolled at Rhoades and I know how blessed we to have them there. Their teachers, the administration and the curriculum are absolutely extraordinary. I love the pledge of allegiance and patriotic songs each morning as much as the outstanding education they are getting. Thank you to everyone at Rhoades for making a great learning institution where kids enjoy going to every day.
--Submitted by a parent