I was a student here at Fulmore, and was part of the magnet. I was part of theater and choir and…read moreabsolutely loved it. My choir was award winning and we were invited to sing all over Texas, and the previous choir before me sang at Carnegie Hall. From an academic standpoint, I was able to take several high school courses like algebra, Spanish 1 and 2, and keyboarding. The teachers were always supportive and really cared about students. One of my only complaints would be administration. The principal is a very fake, disconnected, cold, uncaring being. She doesn't seem to have any sort of regard for student's or teacher's well being. Overall though, I grew a lot at Fulmore, and it enabled me to get in to good high schools like LASA and McCallum. I also met amazing peers.

The kids here are awesome lotta gay people which like slay fights and more it's always drama as…read morea student here I recommend Lively Middle school for your child

I can't express how wonderful AJA has been for our kids over the last 5 years. They use a…read moreProject-Based Learning (PBL) curriculum, where my kids have gained skills crucial to success later in life: teamwork, communication, creativity, executive functioning, but most of all CONFIDENCE. PBLs take a kid's natural curiosity in a subject and show them how to combine ALL their school subjects (STEM, Social Studies, Language Arts, Hebrew, art and music) to present what they've learned. The kids learn how to present starting in kindergarten-- I'll never forget the first time my kid presented their Portfolio, I had no idea this 5 year old was capable of being so prepared, articulate, and confident. My jaw must've dropped a foot. I was just blown away!!! This child comes with some extremely unique, diagnosed developmental and learning challenges that, I've realized in the years since, would likely be too challenging to work with in a public school class three times bigger than his is. At AJA my kids get so much individual support, not just from their teachers but from every adult in the building. Academically, my kids are thriving. The expectations are high, and the teachers have been so talented and creative in their approaches to supporting my kids (not by coincidence-- they are constantly doing new faculty trainings). Our more neurotypical child has thrived and been encouraged to really push herself as well, and as a result has discovered proclivities for math specifically. I've wondered if, in a much larger class, this kiddo might have been kind of lost in the mix as a good-enough B student. Money well spent in my opinion! And then there's what brought us here: the Jewish education. I can see the way the school integrates Jewish values into the kids' daily lives. I see my children actually enjoy participation in Jewish culture and tradition, and apply lessons from our ancient texts to their modern day lives. They know exactly who they are and where they came from. They teach me stuff now!!! It makes a Jewish mother proud.

Awful and abusive admin with no experience. Subpar teaching with unqualified teachers. Very little…read morematerial covered academically. And despite deep promises, absolutely no support for ADHD and other special needs. These people cannot get their stuff together! I love that my boy got a quality religious education. But his regular academics were beyond awful. Terrible classroom management. My son was bullied and nothing was done about it. They finally have a new board, but I would wait 5 more years to see if they iron out their issues before I sent my child there!

Update 2: Not much to add to my previous reviews. Kiddo is now in first grade, second year in the…read more"K-1" group after 2 years in preschool. He's continuing to thrive and love school. Attentive, engaged, loving guides are supplemented with well loved "specials" teachers in PE, gardening, music, and Spanish. And the educational model allows each kid to progress at his own rate without isolating or stigmatizing the differences. The parent community is engaged and generally quite pleased with the school. Is it perfect? No, because it involves humans. But the administration seems to look honestly and regularly at its own strengths and needs, and makes improvements in a structured way. For our money, Headwaters continues to offer our little guy a great start in education, and that feels like the most important investment we can make at this age. ---------- Update: It's been over a year since my review below and things keep getting better. Thanks to the combination of attentive, loving guides and Montessori based curriculum, our little guy has really blossomed. He's headed into kindergarten in the fall and he's both socially and academically ready. And I mean really ready... he's already reading at the complexity level of "Elephant and Piggie" books, and doing addition and subtraction,all before spending a single day in K and with admittedly very little prodding at home. Mostly we're trying to keep up! (Side Note: if you're a parent of littles and haven't yet discovered Elephant and Piggie, you're missing out! But I digress.) Unsurprisingly, we're staying with Headwaters. It's a commitment and a significant expense, but given what they've done for him so far, and what we see coming based on several visits, it's an easy decision. By my reckoning it's one of the best parenting decisions we've made, and that counts not letting him run with scissors and hiding the chocolate syrup. ------Original Review--------- Headwaters is the new name for the school which operates three campuses in Austin, together spanning pre-k through 12. This review is for the "Springs" campus on Manchaca and Berkeley, which serves the preschool population. Our son started in another local, well-regarded school, but we pulled him out because it was such a "strict" Montessori program that forced our bright, happy, highly verbal little one to work in solitude for hours at a time. I am so glad we got a spot here. The guides are caring and knowledgeable, and strike a balance between kids working alone and working together. The Montessori approach we wanted is here, but in a "follow the child" sense, as opposed to a "dogmatically do exactly what you think Maria Montessori did a hundred years ago" sense. Since MM's fundamental idea was in fact "follow the child," for my money, this is more authentically Montessori than the other program which boasted more certifications. There's even more to love here. The program includes mental, physical, and social & emotional development, but without pushing kids past what's age appropriate. They're encouraged to challenge themselves but also to play and be kids. After 7 months, the positive effects on our kiddo are apparent. He's learning, he's being guided and cared for, and he loves it. As I write this, he's on spring break and asking daily when he gets to go back. As an added bonus, we've also enjoyed the parent community and the many opportunities to join the class for some holiday songs and a party here and there. We have one more year on this campus before moving on to the early elementary level. But all indications from parents and my own investigation is that it's as good over there as it is where we are. I think we're in it for the long haul.

I worked there for 13 years and only left because I got married and relocated. It is truly a…read morecommunity. My realtor was a former parent, our campus manager was our officiant. This place is a family and I miss it every day. Every child is known by everyone who works there.

Our daughter is three and a half, and she just finished her first year of preschool (Primary) at…read moreParkside. We couldn't be more pleased to have her attending this special school. From top to bottom, it's an excellent program with marvelous staff and leadership, and a wonderful community. Some of things we love most about Parkside: it's uniquely and authentically Montessori, which was important to us when we were looking at schools. The teachers (called guides) are loving, creative, and thorough in their teaching methods. We were blown away when barely a month in, our daughter came home singing about all the continents of the world! The 12-acre campus is beautiful and well maintained. The kids get lots of outdoor time and often take hikes together as a class. They learn to value and sing about nature, including our new favorite song, "Chlorophyll" written by the founders. Music is a big part of Parkside life, and at least 1-2 events a week are organized around it (parents are invited to participate as well). We've enjoyed all the opportunities for families to get involved at Parkside and we've made some great friends already. Even through the craziness of the pandemic, Parkside staff led the way with through health protocols and regular communication with Austin Public Health to keep the kids safe and allow school to continue. In short, we've found Parkside to be an amazing, friendly, beautiful place that is nurturing our daughter to her full potential. We highly recommend it!

My experience at Parkside was challenging. The admin was changing over and there was little…read morecommunication, and more than a bit of aggressive interactions with admin. We had a new teacher who was enthusiastic when the students were perfect, and utterly overwhelmed and clueless when the students had challenges. My son has ADHD, and despite telling me they has experience with 2E kids, the teacher thought my son had severe emotional problems when my son would self sooth by going in a corner to be alone for a bit. They also did not communicate in any way the depth of the problems my son was having in school. I finally realized the extent of his issues when I began attending daily to see for myself. They were often rude and childish in response to issues or complaints. They had a history of keeping teachers even after multiple complaints of abusive behavior. Their insistence on parent interaction was amazing, and the singalongs were fabu. But it doesn't make up for the severely subpar teaching, the reusing of the same curriculum every year, the nasty admin, and the overall confusion of vision with a high price tag. Do not recommend this school beyond kindergarten at all!

As someone who has worked in school systems for over 30 years and whose niece and nephew attend…read moreRegents, I have been impressed. I've been impressed by how down to earth everyone I have met there has been. Mostly I am impressed by how sweet and intelligent my niece and nephew are and this is the only school either of them have attended. They are both bright and funny and open minded and kind hearted. I can't imagine more lovely kids and as hugely involved as their parents are, I know from experience that the school gets some of the credit too. I'm sorry to read that the kid who commented has had such a shady experience. I would say by his writing that other than the obvious grammatical errors, he has a promising writing style! Get that while attending Regents?

We are currently in our 6th year at Regents, and we love it....Regents is a wonderful community and…read moreour family loves it there. The last review posted by Mark REALLY surprised me because I know families who are Catholic and who attend Regents. Also I am of Indian origin and I'm at Regents.... There could be many other reasons why somebody is not accepted at the school.

Waldorf is such a wonderful education. Unfortunately if the teacher is not great (or going through…read morepersonal crisis and has a large and demanding class) your child will suffer. Steiner's view was to nurture the soul of the child and unfortunately Austin Waldorf is seeming more budget focused and the teacher for our grade certainly really let us down and did not even have the care for us as a family to speak with us directly. I would avoid this particular Waldorf.

Beautiful campus with beautiful traditions. It is easy to get swept up in the idea of the school…read more Met the most wonderful, involved, and caring parents and a couple of wonderful teachers too. This school, however has absolutely failed my children academically. If you have a child that is neurodiverse, this school cannot meet their needs. If you have a child that is gifted, they will not be able to meet their full potential. The class sizes are at 30-33 in 1st and 2nd grade! My child's teacher assured us multiple times that my child would get the help they need. In the end my child's teacher, who had been his teacher for 1.5 years "strongly encouraged" us to find a new school midyear, with no warning. All of the previous reassurance, that they had resources for his learning needs, from her swept away. Now the same teacher is asking for parent volunteers to go in and teach children, not their own, to read. She cannot meet the needs of these children, yet you will not hear this, when the class size concern is brought up at parent meetings. You will be reassured over and over until your child has fallen so far behind, they need multiple interventions to catch up to where they should be or where they were before they started this school. My daughter was advanced for her age before this school. She requested to go back to homeschooling. She would sit in class, at AWS, with her hand raised and never get any help. She was quiet and not one of the louder children yelling out for help. She said she could not focus and would get pushed around by the boys on the playground. The school purposely holds children back from progressing "too fast." They have reasons for this. The issue is the class sizes hinder the children from moving as quickly as they need to, given the Waldorf methods, when they reach the appropriate age/grade level to do so; and they refuse to change. You will hear promises of expanding the grades to have fewer children in the classroom. This has been a promise for years. They have yet to follow through and deny any issues, even though there are many. The teachers do not fight for their students. The office staff is sweet, but when you get down to the people truly in charge, they only care about money.

Truly a magical little school. The staff is wonderful and cares so much about the kids. We are so…read morethankful we found it!

Horrible; high teacher turnover; poor communication with admin; extreme preferential treatment with…read morecertain families; entitled parents who are unwilling to allow their children to grow and learn in any kind of normal environment; teachers/admin coddle to point of enabling terrible behavior

I am SO glad I waited to post this review: GradePower deserved 5 stars from the improvements we saw…read morein my son's performance in school by the end of LAST year; but after the 1st report card THIS year, my intro "tagline" for GradePower is: "Anyone who is at all concerned about their child's performance in school should absolutely include GradePower in their child's learning!" Background: my son never really enjoying reading, struggled with writing, and was rather apathetic towards school in general. 4th grade Writing STAAR came & went, and he faired "ok," but our expectations are higher than just "ok." Come 5th grade, his grades were low B's in Language Arts and Reading. He had sights on an Academy middle school whose admission process includes writing an essay. We enrolled him at GradePower in November 2015. His personal curriculum at GradePower was geared towards success in middle school and beyond (vs specific focus on 5th grade). By the end of his 5th grade year, all of his grades improved and yet almost more importantly (to me), he CARED about his success in school. His essay writing for the Academy was absolutely successful: He was accepted! His time at GradePower ended by the beginning of 6th grade (Fall 2016). And now, the more exciting part...! We recently received his 1st report card (6th grade), and holy cow: He earned a 99 in ELAR -AP (English, Language Arts, Reading- AP course)! He absolutely LOVES school, and he attributes his successes to GradePower. As parents, it's one thing to recognize academic problems and to intervene within our own abilities and/or school tutoring programs, etc. It's another to invest in an adjunctive program like GradePower to improve the situation "right now." But, it's absolutely substantiated proof that GradePower's methods are effective when you witness the POSITIVE CARRYOVER in your child's performance and happiness in the next years! Yes, GradePower is an investment. But the investment in the lifelong success of your child: Yes, it is worth EVERY PENNY at GradePower! We no longer have concerns about my older son's success in school, but we know exactly what to if he does encounter problems. This year, the moment my younger son brought home grades that were "low," we enrolled him immediately in GradePower... may his successes result in a future update of additional praises for this awesome place! Thank you to Gordon, the staff, and to all the teachers at GradePower: You are helping to manifest everything your program advertises; but most importantly, you are faciltating the success of our children, the future World leaders. Thank you for helping my kids rise to & beyond their potential!!!

They do Gods work! No joke! Our son was struggling with writing and math. When he would get home…read morefrom school my wife and I would try to help him with his homework. That didn't go over well. When we would try to teach him or tell him to fix a letter, etc, he would flip out, get angry, break his pencil in frustration. There was no way to get through to him. We didn't know what to do or where to go. As parents we were lost and frustrated. Enter GradePower. We were told about GradePower through a friend. We immediately scheduled a consultation with Gordon. Let me tell you Gordon is super nice, understanding, and knowledgeable. He listens and answer all your questions. Also, Gordon understands kids that struggle with learning or need help, as he was in their shoes once. Nick is also an amazing person, I swear they have the nicest, calmest, most understandable people working here. Our son is thriving we see it in his work. We see it in his confidence. We will be sending our daughter here once she gets into the higher grades. Oh and they are on top of everything. We have scheduled check-ins with Gordon and or Nick who give us feedback on how are son is doing, showing us his work, showing us his growth but also telling us what he needs to work on. GradePower has given us hope when we were hopeless. Investing in your child's future starts with GradePower. Thank you GradePower, we love you!