Overview
Hillview Middle School1100 Elder Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025(650) 326-4341
Menlo Park, CA 94025(650) 326-4341
Hillview Middle School is located in Menlo Park, CA and serves grades 6-8.It received a GreatSchool rating of 8 out of 10
This information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
Student Diversity
Race
Percentage
Native American
0%
Filipino
1%
Pacific Islander
1%
Black
1%
Asian
10%
Two or more races
13%
Hispanic
15%
White
59%
Reviews17 Reviews
3.5
Badly in need of leadership change and new teachers.
If you want your child to keep their mental health, you should not send them to this school. Almost everybody is miserable there. Sure, kids will learn whatever is expected of them and perform well in the state exams, but at what cost? We moved our child out of it after one year, as it became clear to us that if he stayed he would be damaged for life and become one of those folks who abhor learning anything new. Since we moved him out of Hillview, he bloomed and we finally feel he is closer to achieving his potential. Our whole experience with Hillview was a big disappointment, as we moved to Menlo Park because of the schools, only to find out that our kids would be better served in private schools.
This school is the root of so many kid's depression simply because they dread going to school. If you have the choice of sending your child to another middle school, please do, for the sake of their mental health, happiness, and their desire to learn.
Our child had a very bad experience for several reasons, which I will list below. 1. Excessive and uncoordinated use of technology. Students are given an iPad at the beginning of the school year, and teachers make extensive use of it. The lack of leadership on technology use, however, results in each teacher getting to choose the learning platform they use (be it Google Classroom, AltSchool, etc). As a result, some students are often confused as to where and how to turn in assignments, and where to get the instructions they need. Also, giving iPads to students resulted in a decrease in social interaction during breaks, when kids spend their time playing video games or watching YouTube videos on their iPads. 2. Aversion to communication with parents. Our child was having issues due to medical problems, and we found it nearly impossible to communicate directly to teachers. Whenever we contacted them, the answer would inevitably be "ask your child to talk to us about this." However, my child's medical problems prevented from having an effective conversation with teachers, and some teachers would only agree to talk to parents once other folks, like school counselors, were involved. 3. Lack of empathy. Our child was having a hard time keeping up with work, and instead of working with child and parents to figure out a solution, teachers not only shut parents out of conversation, but implied many times that child was lazy. This was a statement about a kid who was having medical problems and working on homework until sometimes 8pm at night, with great cost to social life. 4. Excessive homework. Homework is done in a one-size-fits-all, and there is no flexibility about it. If your child, even for medical reasons, misses a homework, they will be asked to stay during lunch to make up or take a grade deduction. 5. Teacher qualification. Some teachers are really good and caring, but the a few others make the whole experience miserable for the child. One of the main complaints that my child had about some teachers was that they didn't care about the subject. At first I was skeptical about this claim, but after meeting with a particular teacher, not only it became clear to me that she didn't care about the subject, but also that she had a very superficial understanding of it.
Showing 4 of 17 Reviews