We moved into this neighborhood 8 years ago, and heard only good things about this school. It had a great reputation for being an outstanding school in the city. It had a 8/9 GreatSchools rating at the time. Pros: The families are diverse, welcoming and open-minded. As a person of color and an immigrant, I appreciate that the families at this school represent the diversity of Los Angeles. There is also a lot of socio-economic diversity. 2) Another great aspect is the community events that the kids love, like Halloween Carnival, Glow Dance, MonsterWalk, etc. The kids look forward to these school events every year and creates fun opportunities for families to get together outside of school. 3) The Friends of Gardner parent organization is a small but mighty group that does all of the fundraising for the arts/music/gardening program and runs a lot of the school events. They truly "fill in the gaps" when it comes to the quality of educational experience our kids get at Gardner. Here are some NEUTRALS: Gardner is a No Homework policy which means that all the way up until 5th grade, your kid will get no homework. If they do, it's completely optional. Some families appreciate the freedom and philosophy. Other families have noted a very hard transition when their child goes into middle school and they now have 1-2 hours of homework every night. Cons: Every year, we have a handful of students in the class who need more support, whether that is just behavioral issues or a learning disability that requires IEP, and the teachers, school, administration, has little to no resources to adequately meet these needs. This means major disruptions during classroom learning time and students falling behind grade level. (This is not particular to Gardner, but likely district-wide for LAUSD schools). 2) Most of our classes were 30+ kids in each grade, which is also not specific to Gardner. Final thoughts: We've been at Gardner for 4 years, and every year, many families leave for neighboring schools. I think Gardner, 10 years ago, was an amazing school, but now I would say it is average/above average. And if you're curious, their GreatSchools rating is now a 4/5. read more