TK/K public schools w/ quality teachers w/ early childhood degree
Hi all,
As someone who is currently looking to move from our current city San Leandro to maybe Alameda, Oakland, Berkeley, Albany, San Ramon or Pleasanton (willing to consider other cities too if there is exceptional schools EXCEPT palo alto and Lamorinda) we would appreciate help to chose a school with a track record of high quality teachers for TK to 6 in a public school district up to middle school as well. We are looking to move and buy a house in that area for the schools specifically and willing to move between TK and middle and high schools if this is necessary.
It is important to us that the school hire high quality teachers who have degrees in early childhood education and experience with social and emotional development focused teaching and a school with a robust academic program with emphasis on reading and mathematics and STEAM is added bonus. However it is also really important that the education is well rounded with a variety of arts program and music etc. so that the children do not only have to produce good grades and are seen as individuals and encouraged to do well both academically but also socially and emotionally supported. We would like it if the school offers small class sizes (ideally 1-18 or 1:20 and less), and where there seems to be transparency and good communication, for example on teachers bios and their education and interests, which is lacking in the websites I read for elementary schools...it is like a guessing game.
We are a minority family with good income levels but it would be nice to have some DIVERSITY hence no Lamorinda and the houses in Palo Alto is outside our budget.
Thank you!
Parent Replies
In your geography, seems that Piedmont would be the natural choice for your priorities, though it’s not the most diverse, at least with regard to URM. Will be mostly white, East Asian, and to lesser extent South Asian.
Berkeley Public Schools I think meet many of your criteria. Kindergarten was very focused on social-emotional learning (our whole family is now very familiar with the 12 tools in our child's toolbox) and in second grade our daughter has dance, art, music, and gardening every week. (She used to have capoeira!) Class sizes are 20 (I think maybe up to 21 or 22) in K-2 at least. Can't speak to the formal education of our kid's teachers (we haven't been given the CVs you're looking for) but we've had three excellent ones so far and haven't heard any complaints about the ones she didn't have.
Great that you are committed to enroll your child in public schools. All public school teachers in California must have a college degree and a teaching credential; there is no requirement that teachers have a degree in early childhood education. It's important to consider that every district in Alameda County is going through major budget cuts right now (declining enrollment, Covid cash is now gone). I suggest you narrow your focus on cities that have created local tax initiatives to supplement their schools’ budgets, such as Berkeley Unified. Read more here https://www.berkeleyschools.net/departments/bsep/
For reference, I live in Oakland and wish I had bought a house in Berkeley. I love that Berkeley buses kids and many walk or bike to school. That is not the norm in San Ramon, Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore. Berkeley schools are diverse and children receive a well-rounded education that benefits from local parcel tax money. You can also look up school district data at https://www.ed-data.org
Hi. Thanks for the detailed questions! My child is a proud product of West Contra Costa public schools, specifically in El Cerrito, and is now working toward a Masters Degree and single-subject teaching credential.
There are some online resources you should start with that will address several of your concerns:
Public schools in El Cerrito are among the most diverse in not only California, but nationally. My child had an overall positive experience, with academics as well as arts and music. At the time, two of the elementary schools, Harding and Fairmont, had grants for small class size through sixth grade, but I'm not sure that is still the case. Middle and high school class size was large, but that also may not be the case anymore. You may also want to look into Mira Vista school, which is K-8.
As my child "compared notes" with friends who attended Berkeley and Albany public schools, and we had the opportunity to move, my child choose to stay in El Cerrito.
Good luck!
Hi! There are no public schools with that kind of ratio. More like 28-30ish with a teacher plus an aide in some districts. When you go to TK/K tours, ask if they are teaching phonics-based reading - that's what you want. Kids learning via phonics learn to read. Kids in a "whole language" program do not. Most/all public schools use phonics. Of course all schools try to hire good quality teachers and at public school, they all must be licensed (not the case at private or charter). You are not going to find teacher bios online at public schools; that's an unrealistic expectation. Go to info nights. I think I went to about a dozen different schools' info sessions before my oldest child started kindergarten.
You really have to decide what your family priorities are. There's racial/ethnic diversity, and there's socioeconomic diversity, they are not the same thing. Right now many districts are facing some level of public funding cuts so that may be a factor as well. Keep in mind you don't know now what needs your child may have in the future (special ed services, for example) so you shouldn't overlook availability and quality of all support services. At this point you have no idea what your child's academic interests will be, so while you might want to know how many APs are offered at the high school, don't worry about which APs. For example.
At the end of the day, look for a house in a nice neighborhood that your family will be happy living in! Parents' work commute is just as important - you can always transfer schools or go private if the local public doesn't work out.
All that said... we have a nice house in a nice neighborhood in Albany and we also consider the schools to be good. YMMV.
The statement by a previous poster, "every district in Alameda County is going through major budget cuts right now" is incorrect. Albany Unified is not. I cannot speak to the other districts in Alameda County.
We live in Oakland. OUSD has severe budget issues. I feel that you will not find everything you're looking for in most OUSD schools. You will find good and not so good teachers in most schools (public, private, charter). I don't think early childhood education background is required for TK teachers. Our kid's TK teacher did not have an early childhood education background but she did have experience teaching at preschools before getting her teaching license. She was one of the best teachers we have experienced. We were so impressed that we had high hopes for OUSD. Unfortunately, we never met the same caliber teacher after the TK year.
Some schools in Oakland have wealth families that make up for the budget deficit. Those are popular schools. (The goldilocks area in Oakland is a part of Oakland (Rockridge) that is zoned for Hilcrest elementary and middle school and Oakland tech high school. Another highly desirable area for schools is Rockridge in Oakland that is zoned for Chabot elementary, Claremont middle school, and Oakland Tech. This area also happens to be one of the most expensive areas of Oakland. Areas that are zoned for Glenview, Crocker highlands or Cleveland elementary and Edna Brewer middle school are also coveted for schools. Except for Tresle Glen neighborhood, these areas tend to be slightly less expensive than Rockridge.)
The class size is generally larger than what you want. Max is 23 or 24, and popular schools will max or get close to it.
Social emotional learning is hard to do when you have such a large class. The thing that is really sad is the lack of recess and outdoors time for kids at public schools. For Kindergarten, recess is 15 min. each and lunch is barely 30 min. Teachers end up spending a lot of time doing classroom management, and it is impossible to do the social emotional teaching in a way that you want when you have such a large group of kids. Teachers try, but it's impossible at times.
If we could do it over again, we would buy a house in Berkeley or Alameda instead of Oakland or buy a bigger house in nearby areas and set aside a budget for private schools instead of buying a smaller and more expensive house in North Oakland for the schools. (We ended up moving to a private school and many families choose private middle school in Oakland.)
If we could afford it, we would buy in Piedmont.