Portola Middle School is about to be closed because it's on landslide ground that could cause the building to collapse in an earthquake. But Prospect Sierra is right across the street from Portola, so does anyone know if it's similarly unsafe? Susan

Our family has been at Prospect Sierra School since 1993; our youngest daughter is in 8th grade there, heading to Berkeley High next year.PS has been spectacular for our family. Although PS IS expensive(as are all the independent schools) there are also many families like ours there: middle class, going into debt in order to send our kids there.PS has an amazing scholarship program &a strong commitment to diversity.Community service projects are central to every grade, and the After School programs are phenomenal. The teachers and administration at PS are master educators,there is always room for parents to give feedback,& ample opportunity to serve on committees that have real power at the school.There are children with MANY different learning styles,& accommodations are made for all the kids. Probably the best review for the school comes from our oldest daughter, now a college sophomore. During her years at Berkeley High, she thanked us for her an elementary education at PS - she felt she had a terrific foundation in study skills, time management,& sensitivity to all kinds of people. She says that her experience at PS gave her a strong center to thrive at Berkeley High (which she did), and that when she has children, she wants to send them to a school like PS...what better recommendation could anyone ask for? So as our family prepares to say 'good bye' to Prospect Sierra, the least we can do is let others know what a great place it was for us. Laura

Re: Looking at Prospect Sierra and Windrush

I am a Prospect Sierra parent - and a happy one at that. We never looked at Windrush but there were a few factors that lead us not to look at Windrush which may or may not be relevant to you. 1. Windrush has only one class per grade. After talking to many parents who had children in small schools - this can start to be less desirable for the kids at a certain point. They need and want more kids. 2. We live in Berkeley and Windrush seemed to have a higher percentage of kids from all over, particularly farther north of the school. This seemed undesirable to us in terms of creating a community of friends and other families. Prospect Sierra does have people from all over - Hercules to El Sobrante - but we liked that there were so many Berkeley families.

Other people can probably speak more authoratatively to the academic differences. We are very happy at Prospect Sierra - socially, academically and the breath and depth of the curriculum. We wish they would start foreign language instruction earlier than they do - 4th grade- and we wish the administration were a bit more transparent, open and communicative - but overall the school is great and everyone in our grade seems happy too. The school is working on bringing in a more diverse student body and faculty as that is something that the school community has asked for. Good luck with your decision. Prospect Sierra Parent

We have a daughter in 2nd grade at Prospect Sierra. Given we don't have children enrolled at Windrush, I can't really make a comparison, as we only know of Windrush from the application process.

WE have loved our experience at PS. Our daughter is engaged and excited about school. Their integrated curriculum is impressive and gives all of the learning context. Most impressive has been an across the board excellence in teaching. Each year's teachers have been very different and yet all have been able to reach my daughter and engage her in the work. In addition, there' s real emphasis on the kids treating each other well. The parent community has been great and includes West Berkeley Artists, City Lawyers and stay at home moms and dads.

The school has a buttoned up image and the administration reflects that. They have a very strong point of view when it comes to how the school is run. Some schools, Windrush may be one of them, are more concensus building when it comes to administering the school. However, that being said, all of the administrators and teachers have shown considerable willingness to listen to issues. For our family, we value that the administration is professional and runs the school well. We look to them to be the experts. If you have any further questions, you can contact me at dhtchk

June 2005

Hello there, I'm considering Prospect Sierra for my daughter in a year or two and would like to start collecting information sooner rather than later. Could anyone who has experience with Prospect Sierra please help me? I have the following questions:
1. How is the academic program for grade 3 and up? I understand that there are a lot of group learning going on, but how about the individual learning? Is the program strong in math and English? How do you feel about the foreign language not starting until 4th grade?
2. I heard rumors that parents at Prospect Sierra tend to be very competitive. Is this true? We are a middle class family who would like our kid to learn and grow in a cooperative and nurturing school environment, one that provides solid academics but also think about each child as an individual human being. We focus on human values. We are not competitive - we encourage our daughter to do her best and to help her friends. We have a nice little house. We are not rich. We are a mixed family -- Caucasian dad, Asian mom, and an angel daughter who looks more Asian. Our daughter is shy, but truely a wonderful girl. Will our family fit in at Prospect Sierra?
3. Are there bully problems at Prospect Sierra? How do the school and the teacher deal with this problem?
4. How are the administrators and teachers? Are they warm and loving to kids?
5. How are the kids -- both elementary and middle school? Will they react well to a transfer kid? Are there clique problems? Any other problems that we should know about? We would appreciate any insights anyone can give us. Thank you very much again. Anonymous

After two years there I can say that not only were our ''positives'' realized (amazing academics and learning environment; we see PS kids around town all the time), but our concerns about ''competive parents'' and the type of kids that we'd find there are gone. We've met amazing families there, from a cross section of life and strata. We have found the parent, staff and administration warm, welcoming, compassionate and down to earth. Yes, the administration is no nonsense; you won't find them trying to take the pulse of the parent community much. However, we, personally, find that liberating. They are the education experts and we expect them to execute the curriculum, and they do. Yes, I guess there are some ''high powered'' families there, but frankly, i've never met them. Instead I've met a variety of families, some with both working parents, some with a parent at home, s! ome with a grandmother gardian, some living in live/work art studios in west berkeley, some ''commuting'' from south Oakland and Pinole, some with houses ''in the hills,'' some paying full pop, some on full financial aid. One unifying factor: Everyone is excited about the school and their child's opportunity there.

Kids will be kids, everywhere. But in two years, I can recall numerous situations where the conduct of the kids has amazed me. The school fosters a community atmosphere and teaches respect for the individual. Kids are taught to talk things out and are EXPECTED to treat each other well.

PS is filled with numerous families of color, especially of mixed heritage. The school just completed a parent survey intended to identify all the school's cultural diversity and make that information available as a teacher resource --ie bringing families in to share their talents or experiences. Sure, the school is more white than not, as with most private schools, but I'm impressed with the schools commitment to celebrating and expanding the school's reflection of our larger Berkeley area community. Email me if you have any other questions. Dana

1) Academics. Can't speak personally to Grade 3 and up, but some of our friends have older kids and we hear that academics are solid and rigorous. I believe math has been a bit weak in the past but the administration is committed to building an excellent math curriculum and by all accounts they are succeeding. Yeah, there are a lot of group activities, but individual contribution is defined and required I do not believe individual learning suffers at all. There is a good balance. Personally, I would like to see a second language started earlier, but there are only so many hours in the day. I believe the admin has made a deliberate decision to defer a second language in favor of other stuff (better fundamentals, more program breadth) and it is basically a judgment call. If it's really important to you, you may want to consider an after- school class for your child.

2) The parent community. I have seen no evidence of the competitiveness you describe. Sure, there are a few individuals who are a little, uh, intense, but you will find those anywhere. One of the really wonderful things about Prospect for us is the parent community. It does tend to lean to the affluent end of the socio-economic scale, but you'll find that at any of the area independent schools and there are plenty of working families of relatively modest means as well. From how you describe yourselves I would guess that you would fit in very nicely there.

3) Bullying. This is an extremely important issue to us and high on our radar as it was rampant in our experience at Berkeley public schools. Bullying is simply not tolerated at Prospect Sierra. More importantly, they work very hard to create a culture in the school that does not allow for the seeds of bullying to take root in the first place. Mutual respect, inclusiveness, cooperation, personal responsibility, and problem resolution are as much a part of the curriculum as reading and math. I know I sound like ad copy for the school, but they take this stuff very seriously and do a great job of creating an environment where it doesn't happen often and when it does it is addressed head-on.

4) Teachers, administrators. Our teachers in K and 1 were great, especially this last year in first grade. All of the teachers I have been in contact with, both the primary classroom teachers and the ''specialty'' teachers (music, science, art, etc) are smart, caring professionals who really seem to love what they do and get to know each kid. Administrators vary from competent to great. Generally very responsive and proactive. Haven't had enough contact to say much, but the school is run very smoothly and positioned as a service to its constituent families. 5) the kids. This kind of goes back to (3). There are cliques anywhere. But inclusiveness is wired into the DNA of the school. A transfer kid would do just fine. Please feel free to e-mail me with other questions. Dan

Does anyone with kids in 1st through 4th grade have thoughts on the school: what works what doesn't? I'm particularly interested in whether or not the structured education ends up limiting kids' enthusiasm for searching out projects and working at their own pace. We're trying to compare this with a montessori approach. Many thanks! torn mother

I am the parent of a 3rd grader and an incoming kindergartener at Prospect Sierra. We, too, considered a Montessori school when we were living in Connecticut. However, since enrolling our son in kindergarten at Prospect Sierra in the fall of 2000, we have not only been 100% satisfied with their program, but also enthralled by the teachers and the curriculum at the school. Given the ''spiral'' nature of the curriculum, each child has the opportunity to conduct in-depth research on topics of their choice while applying skills mastered from year to year. One example of this is the wonderful writing program that is in place. Our son has learned to write creatively, use proper grammar and spelling, edit, rewrite and edit again, all while researching topics as varied as impalas in Africa, space exploration and a recent family trip. Math is approached through group problem solving, the use of manipulatives, discussion, charts, graphs, and other interactive methods. Each child has something to contribute and has the opportunity to see a problem approached from many different angles to come to his or her own best understanding. There is plenty of room for each child to master skills at his or her own pace given the attention to detail among the teachers and the high level of parent participation in the classroom.

Our son takes pride in his work and is an engaged learner supported by his teachers and peers. We feel that Prospect Sierra provides an academically challenging environment to all learners, balanced by a wonderfully intensive arts program. We have been happy watching our son blossom socially and academically during his time there. Hope this helps! Feel free to call me if you have further questions.

Wendy

It's high time that the comments listing for Prospect Sierra get a posting more current than 1999!

Surely, many of the great things that are mention in the previous posting still exist at PS. Now, fall of 2003, PS continues to build on those. Our daughter is new to the kindergarten class. She's not the most outgoing kid in the world, so we were a little concerned about the class size (24) --- despite the good teacher/student ratio (1:12). But she is thriving! The day is pretty structured, which suits her well. However, there are frequent ''free'' times throughout the day, both inside and out of doors. The specialist programs are extensive --Art, music, library, PE --keeping them moving, busy and engaged. Science starts in first grade; foreign language not until 3rd --yes, it'd be nice to have that in kindergarten, but what would we trade for it? Its facilities are impressive, but what's more striking is the consistant excellence in teaching. Plus, the administration runs it like a well oiled machine - -as a parent, you are very well informed.

The community of parents and staff are welcoming and encouraging of involvement. Is it as diverse as any of us probably want, either racially, family structure and/or socio-economically? No. But,it is successfully increasing diversity, in all categories, with each new kindergarten class. That reflect's a commitment to diversity from the top down.

We're thrilled to be on this side of the ''school search process'' and at Prospect Sierra.

Signed, One Happy Kindergartener & her two moms.

Our daughter started kindergarten at Prospect Sierra in September. Lots of stimulation, both academic and artistic, great teachers, great resources. It's a wonderful place for her. She's grown a lot in the couple of months that she's been there. She also loves going to school every day and that's worth the money to me. The parent communnity is also very nice. Ann

Our names are Jeanie Mitchell and Fred Cannon and we are parents of three children (7th, 5th, and 3rd grades) at Prospect Sierra School. Jeanie is also president of the school's Parent Association, and, not surprisingly, we are big fans of the school. After reading the comparison of Prospect Sierra and Windrush by a Windrush parent (recommendations 11/9), we feel compelled to respond, to offer our thoughts about Prospect Sierra. Our comments are based on information obtained through Jeanie's participation on the school's Long Range Strategic Planning Committee and from our many years of experience with the school, its teachers, programs, administration and staff, and its children.

SIZE: Prospect Sierra has about 500 students this year, split between its two campuses (the elementary school--"Tapscott"--has about 275 children in grades K-4 and the middle school-"Avis"--has about 240 students in grades 5-8). By September of 2002, Prospect Sierra will reach its final configuration of two classes of 22-24 students in grades K-5 and three classes in 6-8, with a projected enrollment of 482 divided about equally between the two campuses. With 22-24 children in a classroom, Prospect Sierra has a student-teacher ratio of 10.2:1. As a result of this great ratio, Prospect Sierra is a community where the children are known not only by each other and their teachers, but by the other adults in the school as well.

The low student-teacher ratio combined with the two campus configuration, results in a feeling that Prospect Sierra is a small school, with big school resources. The lower grades all have lead teachers with an assistant teacher for all or part of the day. The amount of assistant teacher time in classes decreases through the grades, as the kids spend more time in small groups with the specialist teachers. Prospect Sierra has a rich specialist program, offering classes with science, art, technology, PE, music, library, and math specialists. Beginning in the 4th grade, children begin either French or Spanish.

With two classes per grade in the K-5 program, and the remixing of classes each year, the children have many opportunities to develop a variety of relationships and to move around and experiment with kids from both within and outside of their own classrooms. The school provides many opportunities for intra-grade activities. For example, this year the entire third grade has already taken two field trips together (to Kule Loklo at Point Reyes and the Marin Museum of the American Indian). The entire third grade also works together for a variety of "math lab" activities, where the kids mix between the classrooms, giving them the opportunity to get to know the kids and teachers from each of the classes. And of course, the children mix it up on the play ground at recesses and lunch.

The middle school is really divided between 5th-6th and 7th-8th. The 5th and 6th grades are run much as classes are at the elementary school: the classes are homeroom based with a lead teacher who instructs in the core curriculum. Like the elementary school, the kids spend time with specialist teachers, either in their homerooms or in the specialist's rooms (e.g., science, art, technology, etc.). The 5th and 6th graders are also separated from the 7th and 8th graders at recesses and lunch (one luxury of multiple playgrounds and separate spaces). With the 5th graders, this is by design--their designated space is the lower yard. However, according to our 7th grader, while the 6th graders can, and do, visit the 7th and 8th graders on the upper yard, the majority tend to prefer staying on the lower yard.

The 7th and 8th grades are divided into small advisory groups which meet briefly with their advisors at the beginning of each day and for one full period a week. Their days are then divided into periods, where they rotate from class to class. In addition to their required classes, the 7th and 8th graders can choose one to two elective classes each trimester (some of the offerings are drama production, lacrosse, art, study hall, jazz band, orchestra, yearbook and special literature groups).

The middle school also has a growing after school sports program beginning in the 6th grade, with offerings such as volleyball, basketball, flag football and cross country, with equal offerings for both boys and girls.

TUITION AND SOCIOECONOMIC DIVERSITY: Prospect Sierra strives to keep its tuition in the midrange of comparable schools in the Bay Area. The school's Board and administration have determined that teacher salaries and benefits are a priority, and as a result, Prospect Sierra teacher salaries are among the highest in the East Bay. This allows Prospect Sierra to hire and retain the best. Prospect Sierra teachers have an average 16 years of teaching experience; 67% of our teachers have graduate degrees, and continuing professional development is actively encouraged and supported by the school. Our salaries allow us to retain teachers of maturity and depth of experience.

Prospect Sierra has a strong Financial Aid Program. This year, approximately $560,000 of financial assistance was awarded to 20% of our students. The assistance amounts vary from small to substantial, allowing the program to include middle-income families as well as low-income families. We would guess most families at Prospect Sierra fall in the "moderate means" category. We know Prospect Sierra doesn't feel like a "rich school."

SITE: The Prospect Sierra campuses are each former public schools: the classrooms are spacious and the playgrounds large. At Tapscott, the kids have the use of a wonderful grassy field and at Avis, Cerrito Vista Park becomes an extension of the school for PE classes. The middle school has new science and technology labs (1997), and its beautiful newly renovated gym and performing arts center opened in the fall of 1998. The school formed a Strategic Facilities Master Planning Committee in the spring of 1999 which is looking at short and long-term site improvements for both campuses.

FAMILIES/STUDENTS: Our families come from Oakland to Vallejo, with the highest concentration from Berkeley, El Cerrito, Albany and Kensington. I think it would be difficult to accurately describe the "type" of student who would thrive at Prospect Sierra. Prospect Sierra is a school that values creativity and independent thinking, while never losing sight of the "basics." Our three children, for example, have very different learning styles, interests and needs, yet at Prospect Sierra, each is valued, appreciated, and encouraged.

As we said at the outset, Prospect Sierra has been a wonderful school for our kids. It has also been a great community for us, both in and outside of school. We appreciate the accessibility and receptiveness of the faculty and administration. And, most of our social network revolves around the wonderful friendships we have made through school.

Our children haven't taken advantage of the school's AfterSchool program for a couple of years now, but I know it offers many specialist classes such as hiphop dancing, steel drums, tennis, songsters, supersports, carpentry, science, textiles, ceramics, dance, drama, etc.

We encourage all to visit Prospect Sierra. Tour the school--elementary and/or middle--and meet with representatives of the administration, faculty and parent body. Also, log on to Prospect Sierra's student created and maintained web site at http://www.prospectsierra.org.