Carden Academy of Santa Clara

My child attends the junior K program and I must say that I am disappointed in the very simple and non-challenging curriculum. I feel that if I moved my child to public school for Kindergarten, he would be behind his peers because of inadequate Kindergarten preparation. My child even complained that all they do is color, color, color. He is doing considerably less challenging and developmental work here, compared to where he was in preschool when he was three years old. I have to supplement alot at home just to keep him on pace with where he was when he entered Carden. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but for the quite pricy tuition, it is not a good value. On a positive note, the administration is great and very responsive.
--Submitted by a parent

The Carden Academy is fantastic in most ways: the teachers are great and respond to emails very quickly. The administration is very, very organized and you're never left guessing about something or feeling uninformed. They did an amazing job with the new campus. The after-school care is flexible and affordable, and the activities are a lot of fun. Most of the academics are outstanding. The only criticism I have is that the French instruction is terrible --- really awful, to the point of being a joke. The kids don't learn any French at all, and the class is really a waste of time as it's taught right now. This is really a shame. I would give the school 5 stars if not for French. After years of lessons, the older kids can't even put a sentence together! Other than the French, it's really an amazing school. The kids do lots of writing and read lots of wonderful books. The drama teacher is wonderful and the kids had a lot of fun with the Christmas show this year.
--Submitted by a parent

My child attends the Carden Jr. K program. My child loves the teacher and kids at school. Unfortunately, the academics are not there. All they do is color. The work that is sent home is all about coloring. There is no reading or site word learning that goes on. I would expect with the amount of tuition that is paid, we would be getting a higher quality of education. My child should start to add and subtract, learn the site words and start reading. Rather we pay all this tuition to have to supplement the work at home afterschool. I feel that there should be more than just coloring at the Jr. K level.
--Submitted by a parent

We fell in love with the idea of the Carden method and enrolled our son. While we had good relationships with our teachers, we began to discover some serious cracks in the system. Our biggest disappointment was finding that the teacher withheld lessons to some students based on their group at the teaching table, rather than using the group model to provide either additional support or more challenging tasks as the group level required. This meant by the end of they year, all of the children had not received the same base exposure to information. In our case, that meant that our son wasn't challenged to stretch and do more. He was allowed to just float along with his group. We're not even sure his teacher realized his level of reading fluency. Also, while "no homework until the middle of first grade" sounds heaven sent, it makes it very, very hard to get a handle on what your younger student is doing beyond coloring. The administration are nice people, but they lack a strategic plan you would expect to be in place after 30+ years in business. The school is not accredited and the teachers are not required to hold a credential beyond certification in the Carden Method.
--Submitted by a parent

My Son really loves this school. The carden method of teaching has really benefitted him for which we decided to send him there. They truly identify the individual capability of the kids in different arenas and challenge them accordingly to their fullest without pressure. The staff and teachers are very polite and helpful. The students and teachers are like a big Carden family.
--Submitted by a parent

My daughter really loves this school ,and she is so passionate about this school that the thought of changing the school upsets her.The environment of the school is very good, and the children are really nice.
--Submitted by a parent

The environment of the school is very good, and my child is extremely passionate about her school.The principal and vice-principal are very experienced, kind people.Though the school has amazing language arts curriculum and the excellent Carden method of teaching which is our primary reason for choosing this school, unfortunately some teachers do not focus on language arts at all and the quality of teaching in their classroom is very poor.There is wide difference among the teachers in this school with respect to the quality of teaching. In a nutshell, to get benefited from this curriculum one has to be in the right class room.If one is lucky enough to be with a good teacher, this is a very good school otherwise it is very frustrating for the student as well as for the parents especially the ones who are expecting Carden's enriched language program.
--Submitted by a parent

As in every school, this school has good teachers and bad teachers. Typically, one can tide over teachers that are not ideal. But not here. The preschool years with good teachers were smooth sailing and happy. The year with the strict teachers (at preschool level) were terrible. I saw every child gradually lose their spirit, their childish innocence, replaced by an adherence for discipline without joy. The school's leadership is so steeped in old school philosophies, that they refuse to change and allow growth even as times have changed in the last 30 years since the schools inception. Academically, this school is weaker than public schools. Even in Kindergarten, they learn by coloring papers all day.
--Submitted by a parent

Carden is a great school for my children, who both feel valued and at home there. They beg us not to change schools. The academics are fine but it is the community feel and the strong values and understanding of proper behavior that rounds out the school in the nicest way.
--Submitted by a parent

I am a parent of a child who did attend Challenger and is now at Carden. I can tell you first hand that this school is NOTHING like Challenger. Thank Goodness. I had to move my child in the middle of the school year because things got real bad at Challenger. Classes were consolidated because of loss of monthly revenue from students departure. At Carden I have found that parents' concerns are always welcome. Constructive suggestions are often heard by the administrative staff. At Challenger, as parents, you DO NOT have a voice. You can try and risk the possibility of expulsion from the school. Ask the parents of the Harwood campus. The Take-It- Or-Leave-It attitude is very obvious. I was told Stratford is run very much like Challenger---Corporate runs the show.
--Submitted by a parent