Foothill Elementary School

High parent involvement. Friendly, family-oriented environment. Cannot imagine a more positive school/community experience. Principal and staff know all of the students! and most of the parents. Balanced curriculum with arts, music, computer lab, library and science programs to complement regular classroom. Parent involvement supports teachers in classroom. Collaborative approach - it is a village raising a culturally-diverse group of kids. Excellent support of special needs kids. Afterschool Clubhouse provides a great environment for kids with a comfortable, sage place and offers a variety of activities including homework club and physical activities. Classroom teachers have been a mixed bag. About 1/2 have been exemplary and about 1/2 average. There is a high academic standard and strong curriculum.
--Submitted by a parent

After a year at Foothill, we have learned that a school should not be rated on test scores alone. Test scores are largely driven by demographics not educational quality. Foothill and the other schools in Saratoga and Cupertino have great test scores because many smart, wealthy kids attend them. Many of these kids spend 2-3 hours after school attending additional classes so that their parents can ensure that their kids excel in the highly competitive environment of these schools--an environment created by hyperparenting. For the following reasons, I give this school only one star: (1) the school ignores the arts; (2) the school focuses too much on rote exercises reinforcing the Three R's; (3) the school lacks student and staff diversity; and (4) not every grade at the school has a science or art teacher.
--Submitted by a parent

Foothill was recently remodeled so the facilities are new and clean. Parent involvement is very strong. Almost all families are upper middle class or wealthy (minimum home price in the area is about $1million) and are very education oriented. Still, there are behavior problems that crop up. The school has a new principal within the last few years, which is a big improvement over the previous principal, so the school is becoming more popular within the district. The school doesn't use grades on the report cards - instead it's a measure of 'meeting the state standards'. There are no school buses; parents drive on most field trips. Orchestra & band are before school and are not free.
--Submitted by a parent

Nice campus and teachers. Very balanced student backgrouds.
--Submitted by a parent

Outstanding school with extensive quality of academic programs. Highly involved parents with very approachable principal. The teachers and staff are young and enthusiastic! Many programs available for the students from art docents, science docents, and music which are funded by the SEF program.
--Submitted by a parent

I visited the school ; it looks very nice. The teachers seem really helpful. The new principal is trying very hard to communicate with parents.
--Submitted by a parent