Broadway Elementary School

We LOVE the Spanish language program here! Our son did not speak Spanish before starting, but after 6 – 8 weeks of adjusting to a new school, friends, teacher, and language, he started to speak a little Spanish at home. He is very happy there now and as parents we are so glad he is there. Our son loves his teachers, it’s academically strong, which is important, but we also came for the community. It’s a smaller program, with only 2 SI kindergarten classes, so you get to know most of the parents, and there are a lot of opportunities to volunteer and be involved. In fact the principal encourages volunteering and wants input from the parents. Get in while you can! It’s a new program (now in its third year) and not yet full, so we were thankful to get in because word is definitely starting to get out about this program and the classes will soon be full.

My daughter is in first grade, and just started her second year of the Spanish Immersion program. We love it there and so does she. The community of parents is excellent and supportive, the teachers are dedicated, thoughtful, and attentive to the kids, and most importantly my daughter comes home every day excited about something new that happened or that she learned. Whenever my wife and I have had questions the teachers and principal have been available to us. Finding the right school for your kids is as tough as it gets for a parent, but we’ve never regretted choosing Broadway.

I feel so fortunate that my daughter attends Broadway Elementary and is receiving an excellent bilingual education. She is currently in the 1^st grade Spanish program. I live in Santa Monica and obtained a permit so that my daughter could benefit from Broadway’s ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ educational model. She receives ½ of her instruction in English and the other ½ in Spanish. Broadway is also home to a Mandarin immersion program. I love the diversity of the school and its many cross cultural enrichment activities and events. My daughter has made lots of friends. Friends that speak Spanish and Mandarin. This diversity has sparked her curiosity in all languages.

My son goes to Broadway. He’s in 1^st grade Spanish Immersion — I just love it!!! (and I have another son who will be at Broadway next year) He had the best teachers last year and so far this year too! Since its a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ model, the students spend ½ the day with 1 teacher in 1 language and ½ in the other with a new teacher. After only 3 months he was starting to speak to me in Spanish at home (as an added bonus my Spanish is getting better as I help him with his homework! :)
Broadway also has amazing leadership, Principal Wang (she rocks). The school has both Spanish & Mandarin immersion programs, so it creates this great cross cultural environment. Dia de los Muertos festival, Chinese New Year, etc… my son also does STAR afterschool with kids from the Mandarin program so he’s actually learned some Mandarin from them and is very interested in learning about it.
Broadway’s Spanish Immersion program is only 2 years old, so since its so new its really a «hidden gem» — we have a few parents that discovered us and are driving over ½ hour to get to Broadway’s Spanish Immersion and others that left SM and Coeur d’alene to come to our school.
I can’t say enough good things about it!

SPANISH IMMERSION: My son is new to the Spanish Immersion program at Broadway and we couldn’t be happier. It was evident from the first contact that parent involvement is *very strong* here. These parents know the benefits of dual language programs, beyond just knowing a second language, and are willing to do what it takes to give their kids the best education possible. From our observation it’s obvious the teachers are very experienced and know how to teach Effectively to young kids. My son came home the first day completely excited and telling me the new Spanish words he learned that day. Parents and staff are warm, friendly, approachable. There are communication kinks to be worked out the first few days, but the principal has been open to feedback and the administration invites parent input and participation. We looked at four different dual language/​language immersion programs in West LA and we felt this was the best Spanish Immersion program for us due to the teachers and administration experience, manageable school size (not as overwhelming for a young child), API score trajectory, and the parent involvement/​community.

I pulled my child out of this school because I was tired of the mind numbing Common Core instruction, the constant left wing diversity is great blah blah propaganda, the constant celebration of black history and Cesar Chavez, while Christopher Columbus was apparently a dirty word.
The Chinese language instructors were overly mean and demanding on the children, who had little freedom or social life. The entire day is regulated, including where they can play on the playground. Playing tag or running is banned. I was not comfortable with the children in the regular program being on the playground at the same time as my child. Apparently the play regulations are in place to protect the Chinese program students from the other Broadway students, but its an awkward and tense compromise.
My child made very few friends at Broadway, it was not a friendly environment. It’s just regulations and political correctness from the principal on down.

An incredible education and learning experience. My 8 year old is fluent in Mandarin. Need I say more. There is no other school in West Los Angeles that offers this kind of program… and it’s free!
Very very dedicated teachers, staff and parents. Huge involvement from the parents and very effective fund raising.
Yes, there are some issues with the fact that this school is new and growing, but in terms of education this place is top notch.

A wonderful Mandarin immersion program with a brilliant principal, Susan Wang. The teachers are caring, the academics are rigorous and are beginning to be differentiated, and the parents are very involved. We don’t speak Mandarin at home, so it seems like a gift every day to hear our kids speaking. And the rest of the English curriculum is up-​to-​speed, although done in half the day. We’ve been very happy with our choice.

When Broadway launched the Mandarin Immersion curriculum a few years ago, we had to make a difficult decision for our child. We bought a home in a good school district with the intention of sending our children to the local public school with an API of 953.
We then had concerns about public education and the lack of rigor compared to the education system in other countries.
Yet we felt we could not turn down the opportunity for literacy and fluency in Mandarin, to provide future career opportunities as well as enhanced cognition for other subject matter. While we are an English only family at home, we strongly believe in the evidence for dual language immersion to help our children grow.
One child starts 2^nd grade this year and the other child will begin kinder next year. The day is split into 50% English and 50% Mandarin training. The principal is a visionary with strong leadership. There is no English written material in the Mandarin class nor spoken by the teacher. Children are held to the same high standards as native speakers. Parents are heavily involved and committed in both active and financial contributions to the program.
It has been incredible to watch my child grow in confidence as she accomplishes science, math, reading, writing, art, fitness across 2 very different languages. Math in Mandarin is formulaic and easier to do than in English. Learning to read and write traditional characters helps with literacy but also requires artistic energy. Children have homework daily and we love that we are learning alongside her — although not as quickly.
We do accept the vagaries of LAUSD which may include a change in location soon, but thankfully the program will stay on the westside. I initially had concerns about the safety of the school location, being in this part of Venice, but the school is beautiful and the campus is secure.
We can’t say enough good things about this school. We have a committed, close educational cohort and group of friends who will be together throughout their primary school years.

Both of my children are in the Mandarin Immersion program. This is one of the best LAUSD program on the Westside. The study body is extremely diverse. The principal, teachers and parent community are amazing. Being a public school has many constraints, and this is a traditional LAUSD academic-​focused school. Parents have high expectations in both educational and develpmental growth of the children, and have worked very hard to provide the appropriate support. I definitely recommend interested parents to tour the program. The tours are monthly throughout the school year.

This school actually consists of three separate programs on one campus: the traditional English program, the Mandarin Immersion program and the new Spanish Immersion program.
Our child just finished kindergarten in the Mandarin program, which we have found to be among the very best elementary schools in Los Angeles. We have a long commute each day and opted-​out of top-​rated traditional and charter schools right in our neighborhood, yet feel that it’s definitely worth it. Children complete the traditional public school curriculum, but with the added rigor of mastering the ability to speak, read, write and solve math problems in two languages. Teachers work extra long days to coordinate and collaborate on the dual language team-​teaching model. Parents are super involved, fund raise to hire full-​time teaching assistants for every classroom, and have created a nice community.
This school shares one common problem with every public school in Los Angeles: it’s part of LAUSD. That said, Principal Wong and the active parent community have successfully advocated for necessary resources. The Mandarin program is popular and has grown rapidly. A two-​step move to a brand new facility on the Mark Twain Middle School campus is now scheduled from 2015 to 2017, enabling the Spanish and English programs to continue at the current location. I do share the other poster’s concern with unhealthy GMO food, but this is a common problem for all of LAUSD. Our family solves this by teaching our child about healthy eating and packing homemade snacks and lunches. This is a review of a school, not a restaurant, and I give 5-​stars to the Mandarin Immersion program.

The principal runs this school like a dictator, all work and no play even for little kids. The families who utilize this school are so blindly obsessed with having their kids learn Mandarin that they turn a blind eye to the way the kids are actually treated. Some of the Chinese teachers are so demanding it is almost abusive by American standards. The general studies curriculum is mediocre, typical LAUSD crummy Common Core nonsense. Kids seem stressed and unhappy. Not a warm friendly campus.

I don’t like this place. The lunch room smells and the school lunch isn’t healthy. There are GMOs in it and they microwave it with the plastic on it. Some students are over weight and they are eating the school lunches that have lots of calories. Also about the playground. They’re saying kids have to stay in an area when they go out to play. I think every class should get to play at a different time, or not make these area rules. That playground has many places to play for every class so there shouldn’t be that kind of rule. Only kinder can go play where ever. There can be too much homework for classes under the grade of fourth. They shouldn’t give that much homework. I don’t like this school.