Testimonials

 

Read testimonials from parents and others involved with The Cottonwood School of Civics and Science.

“This school is amazing. The focus on community, science, and the dying topic of civics makes its curriculum and inner culture rich. It is a small school where all of the kids from K-8 are encouraged to teach and work with kids in other classes and of other ages, creating an environment that blurs the age/grade divisions prevalent in other schools. My kinder adores ‘his’ 8th grader and looks forward to the days she gets to hang out, to read to him, or they do activities together. Grades take field trips together and work together on certain tasks and lessons, while then receiving grade specific lessons seperately. The entire structure promotes multi-tiered and multi-faceted approaches to learning and education that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I have been really amazed by every one who works there – from the educators to the school aides and everyone in the office. The curriculums are well developed and promote and integrate empathy, diversity, and critical thinking. Families and parents are very involved (and are an important part of how the school functions). I can’t say enough about CSCS.”

 

– Karetha P

“My 2 kids attended elementary and middle school at CSCS, we are on our 11th year at this school! Overall, we are so grateful that we found CSCS and both my children have really positive feelings about their experience here. Place-based education, we have discovered, makes a lot of sense. My son, now a senior in high school, has been on honor role the last couple of years so I can attest to the fact that the education model at CSCS is effective. The staff is awesome; I keep thinking after all these years (many of the staff has been there since the founding of the school) that they are going to burn out and stop being so awesome but that has not happened! They are dedicated, energetic and loving to the kids – my daughter is so sad (now in her last year as an 8th grader) to be leaving them. This school does a lot with only a little – they do not get as much funding as PPS schools but somehow they have managed to attract mostly great teachers and staff who are really committed to the place-based model. Both my kids have had attention issues, especially my daughter, and they have worked hard to help her (I do think, however, that kids with more severe learning issues may not get the attention they need here as they do not have as much staff). The parent community at this school has always been terrific as well, very involved and friendly (we really need parent involvement to keep this school awesome). No school is right for everyone but as the parent of teens I have learned that no school is perfect either – and CSCS is, IMO, as close as you can get to perfect as you can get!”

 

– Anonymous Review, Greatschools.com

“One of my children graduated from CSCS in 2020, after having gone there since Kindergarten. He learned so much, has grown into a wonderful teen who is thoughtful and knowledgable about the world and his community. My younger child is still in middle school here. He loves this school so much. He participates in the school plays. The animal families and kinder buddies are a really cool idea. All 8th graders have kindergarten buddies and they read to them and hang out. There are no older kids picking on younger kids here, the older kids take pride in mentoring and caring for the younger ones.”

 

– Anonymous Review, Greatschools.com

“We have had a very positive experience at Cottonwood. There is a great sense of community. The small class sizes and the hands-on, interactive, meaningful experiences are so valuable to their learning.”

 

– Anonymous Review, Greatschools.com

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