Emily and her staff have helped our family through both high school homework help, organizational…read moreskills, and college SAT prep in uniquely professional and thorough ways. The process for understanding who your child is, who your family is, what is at the core of the need, and adjusting and checking in along the way are beyond compare. I am an educator, and worked with many tutors and tutoring services over many years, and these folks, with Emily at the mast, really find a unique and effective balance. They have a no nonsense approach, are goal oriented, target with professional skills, and have a human approach. They know how to meet families and kids where they are, wont shy from giving advice, and they really know the landscape of all the different schools in the area, even down to the curriculum expectations; they know students they serve well. This experience of local schools alone is a huge experiential leg up. I am an elementary educator, but they helped me with my two very different high school kids journeys. I am VERY confident they can do it all, K-12! This place is the BEST!

Study Smarter was terrific in helping our daughter (and her parents!) through the college…read moreapplication process. Everyone we worked with -- Ariel, Joel, Mel -- was professional, thoughtful, and connected well with our daughter. They built trust with our teenager, coached her throughout the process (school selection, test prep and essay writing), listened to her and evolved their recommendations as they got to know her. The bottom line: Reduced stress in the process and (we firmly believe) better results in admissions and financial aid offers than our daughter would have achieved without their help.

Sylvan helped our stubborn to read and now Sylvan is teaching him the mechanics and joys of…read morewriting. Your child has the skills to master these skills. He or she simply does not want to do it with their parents. Send them to Sylvan. You will not regret it.

Our son is a reluctant writer. Since he started attending Sylvan he has begun to have more…read moreconfidence and less fear. Sylvan has a nurturing atmosphere that fosters learning. We are big fans!

Upon moving back to Oakland we were panicking because we had missed all of the preschool…read moreapplication deadlines. After being placed on a ton of waitlists we came across CWO. From the first interaction we were impressed with Jessica's professionalism and care for the school body. Healthy meals, tons of water, rigorous curriculum and lots of play! The cost in 2020-2022 was comparable to the other options in the area. Jessica has also been a continuous resource to us post graduation. Childcare recommendations and information about OUSD, BUSD and private schooling. My only criticism is I wish the student body better reflected the community.

Our two kids have both had great experiences at CWO. I've been impressed with how well the teachers…read moreget to know and appreciate our kids, and then come up with and individualized plan to help them learn and grow. They have some amazing teachers there, and the kids do such fun projects. It's a lovely community for little ones to grow up in.

We love it at JMSG! Our sixth grader is thriving. She receives so much personal attention and help…read moreto become a confident student. She struggles in math and is becoming a confident math learner. She absolutely loves the emphasis on women's empowerment. This is helping her grow into the kind of woman we want her to be. She participates in musical theater after school and is looking forward to playing basketball next season. What a gorgeous campus, dedicated teachers, and unparalleled curriculum! I'm so glad we found JMSG for our girl!

My 6th grader loves JMSG because "all the classes are really fun and engaging. It is a forest…read morelearning environment with positive teachers and nice friends." The Head of School and the school counselor / wellness teacher welcomes every student at the curb as they arrive every morning! They ask them how they're doing and they answer parent questions. All the teachers are incredibly kind, generous with their time, enthusiastic about their subjects and about teaching middle school girls, engaging, and well qualified. They arrive an hour before school starts in the morning for "cornerstone" when the students can come in and get extra help From them, ask questions, and look over homework. Every week they have special guests and special events, like a whole day dedicated to "words" last Friday, where 3 different authors came in and spoke to the students, and then students got to pick from a variety of literacy-themed electives to attend for the rest of the day. Pi Day was also very fun, with many activities centered around understanding pi and eating homemade pies. At the end of the year, the whole 6th grade class produces a musical. And this year the musical is an original score written by the school's very talented music teacher and a Berkeley Playhouse Children's theater educator and director! We feel very lucky that our daughter was accepted into JMSG and gets to have such a magical middle school experience. She is enjoying learning and is enthusiastic about all subjects. She is excited to go to school every day and takes pride in being completely independent and confident about all her homework assignments.

Grade 3 update: our daughter continues to thrive and excel at NOCCS. She adores the community and…read morestaff. As she is both a creative and analytical mind, we are thrilled there is an art program in addition to core curriculum. Big shout out to the most recent principle Mr.Brown, his leadership over the last two years has brought a lot of improvements across the board along with an amazing board of directors and FTO (our version of PTO).

My daughter absolutely loves going to school every day--that's worth the 5 stars by itself. But…read moreNOCCS is also impressive in plenty of other ways: it's super inclusive, progressive, intimate, and really, really warm to all the kids and their parents. The art programming especially is extremely diverse and thoughtful so the kids learn a ton about different cultures while expressing themselves. Overall going to school here has made my kid a better human more in tune with the world around her.

I am an alum of NLS from a single parent home in East Oakland. From there I went to Marin Academy…read morefor high school, received a bachelor's degree in economics from UC Berkeley, last year I received my MBA from Stanford University, and I currently work at Google. I would not have achieved any of those things without NLS. I split my elementary school years between public school and private school, so I'll speak to what makes NLS special. From my perspective, many schools (public and private) can provide a strong academic foundation. NLS was just as good as my strong public school in that regard. What I gained from NLS is belief in myself that anything is possible. It came from the dreams fulfilled that line the walls, the stories told at morning circle, and from teachers and administrators truly caring about what I wanted to be when I grew up. And in a practical sense, the school provided access, access to the most elite prep high schools in the U.S. Before NLS, I had not even heard of the majority of them. NLS represents a turning point in my life in terms of building confidence, ambition, and knowledge of opportunities that were previously unknown to me.

It's so sad that I have to give this school such a low rating, but it is very well deserved when it…read morecomes to how they nurture 5 year old children. I am writing this review not to bash this school, but to make prospective parents and current parents aware of the principle and the kindergarten teacher Ms. Jennifer and Mr. Peter; the director of student affairs. These three people at this school support yelling and snatching from children. Now this school promotes anti -bullying and respect, however do not display this toward the children. I will give a brief on my particular experience. Ms. Jennifer is one of the kindergarten teachers at this school. She is an emotional wreck and has expressed that she gets very frustrated with the children when they aren't orderly and she admitted to snatching from my child and others. Her reasoning for this was because and I quote "It's the end of the day and I'm dealing with 15 5 year old's and your child has told me multiple times that snatching isn't nice". On this particular day, my child walked out of the classroom at the end of the day crying hysterically. Ms. Jennifer didn't tell me the whole story when I asked why my child was crying, she just told me that she told my child "no" and that made her cry. But the real story of why my child was crying at the end of the day, was because this lady yelled at her and snatched something out of her hand in front of the entire class. When I asked Ms. Jennifer about the incident again she said, " No I didn't yell at her, I just spoke to her in a really mean way and in a really loud voice, honestly I just got really frustrated and yes I did snatch from her". Now when is it ever appropriate as a kindergarten teacher to behave this way? That was rhetorical..... Not ever. I appreciate the honesty, but it's never OK to yell and scream at a 5 year old or snatch. I tried to have an additional meeting with this lady, to try and see if we could move past the situation. She walked out of the meeting like a 5 year old and her supervisor Peter is an enabler because he coddled her like a 5 year old. I guess she can dish it to a 5 year old, but can't take it from an adult. I reached out to the principle about the incident, she sent me some 5 paragraph reply which 3 of the paragraphs was a copy and paste. Non the less, she said she didn't think that the teacher acted inappropriate. She's a joke! Collecting money from the state, acting like she cares about our black babies, but really what their doing behind closed doors, is not what they're advertising. Just be aware!!! Their fraudulent and after 25 years, you would think this Michelle lady would be way more professional and know the difference between appropriate behavior and egregious behavior from her faculty. I definitely reached out to the organization that they are members of and filed a complaint and took my child out of this school. You get what you pay for. I'll take my $1,000.00 somewhere else. My child is so amazing and a blessing to me and so may other people that meet her. I will not let anybody dim her light or steal her sunshine.

We had our toddler son go here from 18 months to 3 and a half years. We absolutely loved it! The…read moreteam is so loving and hands on, communication was great, and our son made so many great friends there. Highly recommend!!

Bright Future Early Learning Center…read more Our son thrived at Bright Future from ages 2-5! The amazing teachers (with impressive tenure!) helped him master potty training, build lasting friendships, and develop strong communication skills. We loved the weekly yoga/music classes, school garden, field trips to Oakland Zoo, and wholesome meals that celebrated our community's diversity. Tre is so ready for kindergarten! Our younger son started in January and is also blossoming. Highly recommend this gem!

My oldest daughter has been going to this kumon center since she was in 1st grade and my other 2…read morestarted even before they went to elementary school. Kumon has definitely built a solid foundation in both math and reading comprehension that is shown clearly with their academic results in school. My oldest struggled with reading comprehension and really benefited from the additional work from kumon. The kids don't like kumon but Ms. Jackie has been amazing, working with us to find a happy medium that will works both for the kids and I. Thank you!

I contacted Kumon because I wanted my kids to continue learning over their summer break - I didn't…read morerealize it was a long term program until I met with Ms. Jackie to discuss their assessment results. Initially I was weary of signing them up since I wasn't looking for something long term, but it really was the best decision for my kids! Since enrolling, my children have gained confidence in both English and Math, have far exceeded their grade levels and both qualified for nationally ranked gifted programs. Not only is the curriculum helpful but I really appreciate Ms. Jackie. The more I interact with her, the more I see her passion in helping her students succeed. One time I was waiting for my kids when a former student (now attending Stanford) came to visit Ms. Jackie and thanked her for helping him succeed - she told him not to thank her but to be proud of himself for working so hard and that HE did it, not her. I notice that she speaks similarly to her other students. Another thing I appreciate about Ms. Jackie is that she looks at each of my kids individually and really works with my family to ensure my kids have the right amount of work. Thank you Ms. Jackie and Kumon!