Pioneer Elementary School

My child is about to complete Kindergarden at this school and so far I have not been impressed. His teacher consistently sends home work that is completed with a "good job" sticker on it, when the numbers are backwards or words are misspelled. I know it is just Kindergarden but reenforcing bad habits is shameful, its like she didn't even look at the work. Everyday I work with my child to ensure that these mistakes do not occur again and fix the problems he missed at school and when I do (rarely) hear from his teacher all I hear is how excellent he is and how advance he is. Of course he is but not because of Pioneer but because of my husbands and I unswerving devotion towards education. I also agree with a lot of the parents complaints about a lack of communication from the school, time and time again my child tells me something that his teacher said but I would prefer some type of written confirmation of these things. Oh and one more thing, DO NOT expect your child to learn anything in the months leading up to December, because it seems all the students efforts are put into practicing songs for the winter show.
--Submitted by a parent

My child attended this school for 1 1/2 years and I couldn't be more happier to get my child out of that school. Unfortunately, I could not rate this school as high as other parents based on bad experiences we had to deal with concerning staff, lack of communication and judgmental small town views. I will say the two teachers my child had were very nice and were good teachers. My son is a great ready and has been since age 4. I was very disturbed when a letter was sent home saying my child was below average, when I addressed this issue with the teacher, she seem equally surprised I received the letter and agreed their was a mistake because my child actually was proficient and a excellent reader and explained that particular test is given in the beginning of the school year in a loud,full cafeteria,given by volunteers,she went on and determined since my child talked in a low voice the volunteer probably assumed they didn't know how to read.Pioneer is a good school for that area and for the people that were raised there but I was very disappointed on a number of other factors we experienced and felt a lot of the time office staff was more focused on personal and misinformed issues
--Submitted by a parent

So disappointing! We had our first grade son in this school and thought we would be ok placing him in a public school because Pioneer is supposed to be the best. It may be the best, but we were stuck with a horrible teacher. Communication coming out of the classroom was terrible as far as how the students were progressing. We were concerned that he was struggling in math, but every time we asked the teacher we were told he was doing well. We only received graded homework back once every 4-6 weeks which is ridiculous! How can we as parents help our children when we get 2-3 tests back all at once? Finally we got some supplemental help from the teacher and hired a tutor at the end of the year! The teacher didn't seem concerned with his failing math scores the final quarter. Check the CST scores. Not good!
--Submitted by a parent

i am moving from florida to hanford my fiance is miltary and after looking up school online we went with this one. my daughter is some what behind on reading but this year she made a huge jump and i hope by putting here in a good school she will do much better and bring up her reading and math.
--Submitted by a parent

During a recent visit to the school, the kids were obviously at home in their school and they seemed happy to be there. Good sign of a good school, it is children friendly with parent involvement--both are present here.

It is a great school, with a great staff who care for the children whoi attend the school.

My son attends this school and he loves it. I do as well. The school really encourages parent interaction and has never made my husband or I feel silly about any concerns we may have. The only thing I did not like was that since my son came here from out of state we were told that his reading skills were so poor that he needed to be held back and/or put into pre-first. His teacher told us that he is an excellent reader and that holding him back would have ruined his education and self-esteem. I just wish that the school took more time out to test new students.
--Submitted by a parent

My children went to Pioneer for 4 years, until we moved out of the area, and I miss it so much. Pioneer is a great school, from the aides to the PE teacher, the pricipal, but the best are the outstanding teachers, who are professional, creative and movitating. Pioneer is a great learning environment!
--Submitted by a parent

I have had three children go through Pioneer, and I also teach music there, so my experience is from 'both sides of the desk.' We are military, so I was unprepared for the stark difference between Pioneer and the other elementary schools in town. Of course you can check API scores (which we did as soon as we got orders to NAS Lemoore).... but there is SO much more to a great school than test scores..... (although that has genuine validity). What really stands out about Pioneer is a cohesiveness that is not present in other local schools. They have a vision, and a set of shared values and ideals that the entire staff, from custodians to administrators, share and continually strive to achieve. It functions like a well-oiled machine. I love teaching there! It's the best school in Hanford, hands down.
--Submitted by Lisa Coder, a teacher

Pioneer Elementary is one of the best public schools in the state. The quality of education is equivalent to most private schools, and the teachers, administrative staff, and other parents are wonderful. We have two children attending right now and feel very fortunate that we are in the Pioneer Elementary School District. The school promotes ethics and values along with academic excellence. Parents, teachers, and students all take pride in the quality of this school and this is obvious from the second you step on the school grounds.
--Submitted by a parent