Mission Valley Elementary School

There are a number of problems at this school. Many of the good reviews are by home-owners trying to prop up their home values. A number of teachers at this school have been around for a long time and are very lazy. They will not go even one tiny bit over the required curricula - because that will be "extra work". They can afford to be lazy because the asian students (the major component of this school), learn lot more from "coaching" type classes outside of school. Take out the asian students out and you will find the "true score" for this school - Caucasians, Latino's and other races - that typically don't have a culture of after school coaching, all do rather miserably at this school. Many of the incoming kids at the school, already know stuff that is going to be taught to them in class. These kids pretty much get taught nothing by the teacher - in a class of say 30 students - if 15 of them already know what is to be taught for the next 6 months, the teacher effectively now only needs to teach 15 - since 15 of them already know their p's and q's. The teachers absolutely don't do anythng to involve the 15 who are ahead and bored. Reached word limit - so can't tell you more..
—Submitted by a parent

My kids used to go here. Horrible, horrible, horrible front office, attendance clerk always rude. Why can't she get a write-up?

Mission Valley is one of the most truly caring places for children to learn. The teacher enjoy teaching and want your child to get the best education possible. Yes there is a write up system but it has taught my children to be responsible and do all of their homework. I have had may childcare children also attend Mission Valley and we all agree that it is a wonderful place to learn. Most of the complaints come from parents who want to control the teachers instead of letting them do their jobs. It has been a excellant choice for my children.
—Submitted by a parent

If you enjoy fighting with administrators and staff, then this is the school for you.
—Submitted by a parent

We left Mission Valley for a number of reasons. 1) The write up system causes stress and headaches. 2) Some teachers were more negative than positive. 3) A teacher said to see the principal and the principal said to see the teacher. 4) Others schools do not have the write up system.
—Submitted by a parent

I'm bemused by the parental obsession with standardized test scores. The tests are a poor, inefficient way to measure learning, intelligence and thinking. Thankfully, Mission Valley teachers, for the most part, don't focus on this pedestrian, rote-type learning. They are creative, dedicated and devoted to the children. They encourage the kids to be creative, innovative learners as well. I only hope those insecure parents who focus on test scores and want trophy children don't ruin this treasure of a school. Already, we see changes in approach by some teachers. And yes, people, your kids don't need extra homework. They need to have actual childhoods and to become well-rounded, thinking people. You are not raising little robots. Quit asking the teachers for extra homework and actually participate in educating your children to think.
—Submitted by a parent

Yes, the write-ups can be infuriating, but my child has never gotten any that were distributed to her because of a few microscopic accidents. The teachers are terrific, but the children need themselves need to be more focused, and the parents slightly more encouraging.
—Submitted by a parent

One of the reason the Mission Valley is going down in the test that they are spending less time in teaching and more in admin. As usual teachers start the academic year at a snail speed and then in the last quarter of the year they will over burden the students and parents with too many home work and week end assignments to cover district requirements. Zahir Alam
—Submitted by Zahir Alam, a parent

The school claims to adopt an praising system. However, all that have been emphasized are trivials and small facts that leads to punitive writeups, while good behaviors, achievements, and progresses easily go unnoticed. Besides, some teaches uses writeups without consistent guidelines that causes confusions and negative feelings among students.
—Submitted by a parent

Mission Valley probably has the lowest score within Mission San Jose elementary school district at year 2007. I am surprised to find out their score has dropped 14 points compare to 2006. Mission Valley needs to change the conservative way of teaching because it is the old way of teaching. Lots of teachers in Mission Valley are too confident with their teaching styles without listen to parents suggestions and won't change base on students' learning style. I believe this is the main reason Mission Valley doesn't have an impressive improvement for the past few years. Hopefully the teachers can lower their gestures and open their eyes to see what really happening around them.
—Submitted by a parent

Mission Valley is nice but still needs to improve. The whole write-ups thing is good but they give it for very little things like forgetting to bring 2 pencils! It makes me so angry when my child comes home sad that she got a write-up for not going to line fastly or raising her hand at a wrong time. But the studies are great!
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers / academic program and parents involvement are really good. I am very very staisfied with my kids progress. Many thanks to the Entire Staff and MVSA program for their commitment.
—Submitted by a parent

My son was attending K class in school year 2006, and received very good care from teacher in terms of academic progress and other social skills. In addition, the class arranged some helpful activities to get the kids knowledge out of classroom. The parents provided great help in classroom. Overall, the school is great.
—Submitted by a parent

The teachers go above and beyond to make sure each student receives a meaningful and quality education.
—Submitted by a parent

The good teachers are only a handful; it's the families who raised great kids and being very supportive in accademics.
—Submitted by a parent

Mission Valley is a great school. We are lucky to have an experienced teaching and administration staff. They really care about our childrens education. I am very confident that when I send my daughter to school everyday she is getting a good education.
—Submitted by a parent

Great School. The kids will work hard there. Sometimes the rules are a little stringent with the 'letter reward' system, but overall a great place for learning. The school is highly, highly, competitive and a bright student will be 'just a number' there, considering the talent level that attends the school (and district). Principal turnover has been high (three different Principal in as many years), so rating one is not possible at this time. Parent involvement has been declining (my personal observation) over the last few years.
—Submitted by a parent

This school is good. The api is not as high as GOMES or Mission San Jose, but I did not see the difference
—Submitted by a parent

I feel the school or the school district needs to revise the 'write up procedures'. Secondly, it sadens me that the teachers send home so much homework and the schools policy is 15 minutes per year of grade.
—Submitted by a parent

hard-working staff. dedicated principal.congenial office staff. orderly campus. attractive grounds. great test scores.
—Submitted by a parent