Scera Park School

I am an educator who homeschooled her niece during the summer and sent her to public school during the school year. My niece has always recieved the highest marks in her grade level at her other public school. She even took second place in a second grade spelling bee which included all second graders in the western half of the United States. When we moved to Orem and she attended third grade at Scera Park Elementary. The previous school's second grade she'd attended was so far ahead of Scera Park's third grade that she was made to sit in the back of the classroom with nothing to do during math class. She was beyond the text book that school uses. The reading program was terrible. And when my niece recieved a 'C' on a spelling test, (they couldn't teach spelling either)the teacher berated her to tears.

Two of my children attended Scera Park. We Loved this school. The principal is wonderful. I was very sorry we moved away from this neighborhood, because I believe this school is far better than the schools even across town. My children both attended Scera Park for kindergarten and I must say that Mrs. Adams is the most amazing teacher. Her reading program set a fabulous foundation for my kids to excel and to love reading. My kids now attend a charter school because the school in our new neighborhood is not good. Don't take Scera Park for granted--it's a great school!
--Submitted by a parent

Scera Park has good parent involvement. I feel comfortable associating with the school staff and faculty and with the other involved parents. My children have had excellent teachers. I tossed around the idea of homeschooling before I moved here. I told myself that this public school experience was just an experiment. But I've seen truly dedicated, skilled, talented teachers influencing my children. My daughter is in third grade and absolutely loves going to school and learning. My son is in Kindergarten. He had no interest in letters and reading before he started in the fall. By Christmas he was reading! There can't be any better reflection of the quality of teachers than the skills of the children combined with a continued love of learning. My only disappointment with the school so far has been the size of my son's Kindergarten class. 34 children! Good Grief! Poor Teacher!!!
--Submitted by Alene Alger, a parent

Our oldest child read over 130 books while in Kindergarten at Scera Park Elementary. (Thanks Mrs. Belliston!) I naturally disagree with the assessment of the reading program posted by one of the other parents. The books started off very simple and graduated to a surprisingly difficult level to keep up with our child's thirst for knowledge. The school itself is warm and comfortable for its age. The few teachers I have met are very nice and accomodating. The principal is a bit gruff and aloof, but then my own elementary school principal was the same way and I am no worse off for the wear. All in all I think Scera Park Elementary is a wonderful school.
--Submitted by a parent

I am educator who sent her child there for a year. 1st. Alpine District has a terrible math program! 2nd. Terrible reading! After testing a random sampling of 10 children in our neighborhood, all of the children were very much below their grade level in reading. I was very sorely disappointed with their reading program. They teach a 'balanced literacy' and every child in grades 3-5 that I tested independently scored 2 or more grade levels below the national standard. All of those children had severe difficulty in decoding/encoding simple consonant-vowel-cononant nonsense words. The children simply are taught the old sight reading that is proven by solid research to not produce fluent readers. My daughter will NOT attend again! The test that I used was CRT-Lexia, which is a very good indicator of reading skills. I was appalled by this school's reading program!
--Submitted by Wanita Poisson-Plew, a teacher

I went to this school last year for 2 years it's awesome! long story short I love this school!