Not sure where to start. Mentoring Academy changed our lives in such a positive way. Gone were the days where I had to nag my 2E son to do homework. The mere fact that there isn't any homework makes a huge difference. My son was less stressed and so was the ENTIRE family. It's amazing how one unhappy person can change the dynamics of all involved. My son's relationships changed with his siblings as well as with his parents. Public school was not a good fit for him. He transferred to Mentoring mid-way through sophomore year. The family noticed a difference in him almost immediately. His second week of school at Mentoring was in Tahoe. During my son's first semester at Mentoring, they went to Tahoe, Washington DC, and So. Cal. Boy did I get what I paid for by sending my son to Mentoring. Over the course of the next two years, they also went to Poland and Costa Rica to name a few of the bigger outings. They also do local "field trips" as well. Students work at their pace and are encouraged take courses they are interested in. I've yet to meet a teacher/mentor at Mentoring that I didn't like. The school is full of students who march to the beat of their own drum and they are embraced. Each student is allowed to be who he or she is. Another added bonus is the college search support they receive. I didn't have to help my son with his essays nor did I have to help with the college search and application process. That was worth a lot for me, too. They helped my son apply to schools that were a good fit for him. They made sure my child took all the necessary courses to get into good colleges. I'll admit, I was a bit worried at times. However, unfortunately (or not) for me, my child is now away at college in another state. I believe if my son hadn't gone to Mentoring, he'd still be at home either attending the local state school, or community college (not that that's a bad thing, but just not a good fit for him). He is the kind of student who thrives in a smaller classroom setting. I could go on, but see for yourself and go see what Mentoring Academy is all about. It has been the best parenting decision my husband and I have ever made. Absolutely worth it! read more

Not the best, but Mentoring Academy started to give me a lot of believe again. I wish I could do a lot better but over time, I started to have hope once again. read more

Like other recent reviews, I am also a student that attended Mentoring Academy. I feel like I should address these reviews. I cannot speak to several of the things mentioned: teachers making inappropriate jokes, students making homophobic quotes masked as jokes, mental health being thrown out the window in Guatemala, and the school catering to male students are things that I simply have no knowledge about. (I will say that I am somewhat skeptical of them) Some of the other small complaints I do know to be true. Yes, the pizza in Italy was disappointing. Yes, the school wasn't very decisive about how to respond to the pandemic (the government wasn't either). However, these really aren't major problems to me. I do agree with some of the larger issues that the reviewers raised. 1. The cost. There isn't much to say here, the school is pretty expensive. 2. The atmosphere. The school does have a more laissez-faire culture, which does mean that things are more casual, sometimes even unprofessional. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is a bad thing. Parent-teacher meetings will take place next to science experiments, tests will be taken in the kitchen, and sometimes employees will be paid late. It's simply the culture. Generally the school is fairly relaxed on grading, and that combined with the casual atmosphere means many students don't give assignments their all. 3. The schedule. The school has very long hours, going from 9:00 to 5:30 four out of five days of the week. This comes with the caveat that work is done at school, not at home. This is only sometimes true. Teachers will often assign work that they expect to be done at home, which can make the long hours even more arduous. This long time commitment means that there aren't many opportunities for extracurricular opportunities, jobs, volunteering. 4. The size. This is once again both a positive and a negative. The small size means that the school is more intimate, and that classes have plenty of time for each student. However, it also means the school can't really include clubs, sports, or many classes. It also means that there just aren't that many people to meet. If you're an extroverted student, this can be a real problem, and is probably the most important thing to consider about going to the school. If you're an introverted student, I could see the small size being a pro, not a con. 5. The diversity. Mentoring is not very diverse. In particular there are very few female students. I wouldn't say that this is the fault of the school, but it's worth noting. Mentoring IS very welcoming of all people. Overall I agree with some of these points, but I don't really feel they warrant a 1/5 review, or the negativity that these other reviewers raise. Some other points: I have had negative experiences with some of the school's teachers, however they are all no longer members of the faculty. On the other hand, some of the teachers are quite excellent. In particular, the science teacher, Garret, is fantastic. He has a real joy for science and teaching. The school has a lot of "teacher cycling", but luckily most of them are pretty good. I personally went on two extraordinary adventures. One of them was a bit of a mixed bag, but the other was a fun experience. There are problems with them, but I certainly don't think they "straight up suck". The food options around the school are great, and are much better than cafeteria food. The headmaster, John, has a real passion for education, and a real love for every student. While sometimes he can be a bit unorganized, he truly does care about every student and wants them to succeed. I don't think that is true (at least not on the level it is with John) for most principals/headmasters at other schools. John's enthusiasm for teaching and young people (there's no way to type that sentence without it sounding weird) bleeds into the school's culture as well. It's a very welcoming, encouraging place. At the risk of sounding sappy: some of my fondest memories at Mentoring include the school-wide student presentations, lunches spent talking with teachers, and otherwise grueling layover flights. I suspect that most high school students can't say that! While Mentoring has its flaws, it's worth noting that every high school is too. I think for certain students Mentoring is an excellent fit, and for other ones it isn't. It simply depends. read more

I cannot say enough about our experience with Mentoring Academy. Our son is now in his third year of Mentoring. He has always had a thirst for knowledge. He has consistently done well in school but sometimes got frustrated and bogged down by rote learning. For high school he had a number of options and chose Mentoring over other "more traditional" private schools. Looking back it is clear that Mentoring Academy was clearly the right choice for him. At Mentoring he is thriving. He has had some outstanding teachers who have been able to challenge and excite him. The head of school, John Muster, is a "teen whisperer" who is focused on helping each student reach their potential. The school is small enough to work with students on an individual level but has a strong sense of community. This is bolstered by retreats at the beginning and end of the school year, an international trip in the spring, community dinners and tea time discussions. School begins at 9:00 and ends at 5:30 with most of the homework done in school. This leaves evenings free for students to explore other interests and spend time with family. Because the school is small, it is flexible and able to quickly adjust to changing circumstances. For instance, we are currently in the midst of a pandemic crisis. The school responded extraordinarily well. Within two days of Alameda county issuing a shelter in place, the school was in full swing with each student telecommuting. It was remarkably seamless. In the three years that he has been at Mentoring we have seen how much our son has grown, matured, become more self confident, and overall happy. We have no doubt that he will be well prepared for college and life beyond high school. We are thrilled to have discovered Mentoring Academy and that our son was able to have this amazing high school experience. read more

Unlike the other reviewers on Yelp, I am a former student (graduated 2020, so my experiences are very recent). I have written a six-page letter to John, the headmaster, expressing my many grievances with the school and with himself. I am attempting to be significantly briefer here. (Also, I am not the first person to write him a letter.) The school's response to COVID-19 was terrible. Despite a student coming in direct contact with an outside individual who was ill and had to quarantine, the school went remote weeks later. Mentoring refused to go pass/fail (even though many parents, teachers, and students alike all desperately wanted to). Only one of my teachers adjusted their coursework. The headmaster REPEATEDLY talked about how nationally people were suffering mentally because of the pandemic, but that we the students were apparently totally fine. This, of course, is completely incorrect, insensitive, and shows how out of touch he is with the student population. Even after a student called him out and informed him that he was wrong, less than a week later, he said the same thing. This school has a flagrant lack of diversity. During my final year, there was one African American student, a mere handful of full or part Asian students. Only seven students identified as female, two identified as nonbinary, and twenty identified as male. There was a single female teacher. I was taught solely by white males. On the topic of staff members, I have counted in my less than three years at Mentoring, TEN staff members who have left, which clearly displays a lack of leadership. Further on the teachers. Yes, some are caring. Some so much so that they break down teacher-student barriers to a degree that can actually be uncomfortable. A teacher (who is still at the school and who (as far as I am aware) faced zero repercussions) screamed "F--k you" at a student in front of the entire school population after she got upset with them. She has repeatedly sworn at students and yelled at them. (This is the same teacher who constantly skips or is late to her own class to get coffee.) During secret santa, two teachers made a series of Nazi/SS jokes in front of everyone. A previous teacher wanted a class to say the n-word while reading a book out loud (she and the whole class were white). Teachers have made students cry (I can recall one particular afternoon when a teacher forcefully pushed down on a student's desk chair and yelled at everyone in the room, causing nearly all of us to leave the space). A student (who has since graduated) was heard saying the n-word multiple times, and students continuously brought it up to the headmaster, but he did nothing. Another former student has said anti-lgbt/homophobic statements (masked as jokes). No repercussions there either. Mentoring touts itself as an inclusive, safe, supportive community, but I've realized that is only true for males. The schedule. 9:00 to 5:30. But there's no homework, right? Students are able to have a life outside of the basement? They can do activities, see friends, help out with dinner, have alone time? Nope. Only on weekends--except when you take classes that have weekend homework... (This also hurts college applications because of fewer activities, fewer volunteer hours, etc.) College advising. Holy mackerel. The college advisor literally spelled my name incorrectly on official CollegeBoard/SAT documents (my name has less than five letters). She didn't guide me through the websites used, didn't make a potential college list, didn't give me any advice on essay writing (personal or supplement), the list goes on. I very quickly realized I needed to find a different advisor. Now, onto the Extraordinary trips. First, Mentoring fails so badly, that we had bad food in Italy. Seriously? I can recall two good meals from the entire trip. We even had bad pizza. I literally didn't think that was possible. Guatemala was a sh-tshow with mental health being tossed out the window. Italy was no different. I really don't know where parents get the idea that the Extraordinary trips are cool. They straight up suck, and I suspect one of the reasons for this is because they are planned less than 60 days in advance. The Thailand Extraordinary trip was only cancelled once legally Americans weren't allowed to travel to Thailand. The headmaster seriously was still considering going abroad during a PANDEMIC. This review may sound malicious, or like I was scorned, but these thoughts and experiences are not solely my own. I have spoken with numerous members of both the student and the staff populations who can easily corroborate what I have written. To anyone considering Mentoring Academy, please save yourself pain, frustration, embarrassment, and tears. Go to a different school. read more

For three years I worked with the founder of Mentoring Academy while he ran another college-preparatory high school in Berkeley. He is endlessly energetic, compassionate, empathetic, and preternaturally gifted at helping students to grow into whole human beings. Couple this with broad scientific acumen (he's the author of one of the most-used college computer-science textbooks in the world) and a passion for learning and for teaching...John is, quite simply, the best man for the job, and his new school will be one that its successful students remember fondly for decades to come. read more

Mentoring Academy has been a life changing experience for my son and our family. Our twice exceptional child struggled in other school settings, both private and public. The school is small, but offers a wide range of classes based both on the interests of the kids and state/UC requirements. The extraordinary program has been amazing, with trips to Guatemala and Italy in the past years (this years trip had to be canceled due to COVID 19). The Mentors genuinely get to know and care about each kid, and the one on one attention has helped my son thrive academically. Due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, school is currently being held via zoom, but they were able to do this quickly and smoothly, which has kept my child both mentally occupied and on track academically. read more

Our son attended a large private high school last year with less than stellar academic results. He switched to Mentoring Academy this year as a sophomore, and it has been a godsend for him and our family. No more struggles about homework and a teaching style that inspires students to want to learn. The focus is on mastery of material with an international trip reach year that extends the classroom into the real world. The head of school, John Muster, is a gifted educator, and the dedicated teachers (mentors) provide an appropriately challenging learning environment for each student. Small class sizes and an emphasis on community building make this an outstanding choice for bright students struggling to succeed in a more traditional academic setting. The location is really convenient--on College Avenue in Oakland in walking distance of Rockridge BART. read more

I am the proud parent of a 2E student whom I will call my kid to protect my kid's privacy. The public schools completely failed to address my kid's educational needs. The Mentoring Academy staff "gets it." They go to great lengths to teach in such a way that meets my kid's learning style which enables my kid to get the high grades my kid is capable of achieving. I have heard similar stories from other Mentoring Academy Parents. read more

The schools has a great mission statement and the goals are excellent. The execution of that mission is not where it needs to be. We all want it to be wonderful and at times that desire may cloud an objective evaluation. Below is candid review of Mentoring as the last posting is almost a year old and a lot has changed. Ask the tough questions. Currently none of the teachers have special education certification or formal training in same they can point to. Ask to interview a few of the teachers to asses their actual skill set and experience in teaching students with learning disabilities....most had no experience in this space. In our experience only one of the teachers was effective the rest are not as effective. They all care and show that they care but caring is not the same as trained and capable. The idea that homework is done at school and not at home does not work in reality. Understand why the grades will be better. Grades will no doubt be better as student are graded on what they complete and if they fail doing the work or fail the tests one just keep doing it over until the grade is better...this can result in not completing a grade in a full year as the work just roles over to be done in the next school year. This works for better grades but can result in more than 4 years of high school. Privately the headmaster of the school views it as a 5 year program. Math is done using an on line application that is poor at best......ask any students. Not clear if there is a math teacher. The part time college advisory is under contract with Mentoring and she is excellent. If your issue is getting your student to do homeowner Mentoring will not solve this issue. The schools presents a program that all homework is done at school in study halls that are supervised...reality is students have study hall with no teacher engagement. Almost all parents see a lot of homework being done at home. In the category of really bad....you need to keep track of all test scores and homework as the school does a horrible job of posting accurate grades. We found several errors in final grades multiple times and had to go through the detail to get them corrected. Mentoring has no school loop system so everything is email or hand written notes and there are a lot of misaligned results. Vast majority of students do not stay for 4 years. The headmaster is effective in interaction with the male students but is out of date and out of touch with interactions of female students..he is 77 years old white male and is old school in his view of females. Overall the teachers do a poor job of keeping parents updated on progress or lack of same. You have to reach out to them, it is far from proactive. Originally the headmaster set cap on total number of students at 25..saying that that was the max he could effectively mentor.......there are now about 36 students and a few have serious issues and are not well placed at the school. Mentoring was set up as high school that now has a few 8th graders and a 7th grader. We can not tell you the number of times it comes as a surprise that students are behind and the path to catch up often involves writing more checks. read more

The Mentoring Academy has been a blessing for my son. He's a young man who is very bright but learns differently than most. Because he is 'outside of the box', the traditional method used by most schools (especially public) caused him to fall behind. Fortunately my wife, after an exhaustive search, found The Mentoring Academy. From the Headmaster, John Muster, to all of the Mentors (they are not just teachers), this High School has allowed my son to learn in a way that suits his unique needs. Most importantly, the low ratio of 'mentors' to students helps to insure each student gets the individualized attention they require. I would recommend this school to any parent who has a student struggling to learn via a traditional approach. It may not be for everyone but it is certainly worth exploring (try a 'shadow day' for your child and have them help you decide). As an amazing added bonus, the school takes a yearly field trip (the last two years trips have been to Costa Rica and Poland), which provides a unique opportunity to learn from a more worldly perspective outside of the classroom. read more