Imagination Lab School Reviews

7 reviews

I encourage you to really look at other schools. This school has some good teachers but overall will not prepare your child for the next level of education.

I am delighted that you are reading this, because that means you have stumbled upon ILS, (Imagination Lab). It has been quite the learning curve to be a new parent and a journey to figure out all the things that come along when you have your child in primary education. Choosing a Daycare you can say was easy compared to choosing the foundation of your child's learning. With Covid, Preschool and Kindergarten was a wash - 1st grade in our local public school was truly horrible. I did my research, and found ILS. The school feels like a community and all the kids know each other and they treat and greet each other with the utmost delightfulness independent of grade. The monthly coffee hours are great to meet other parents. The school events are thought provoking (think reserve trick or treating). In just one year (2nd grade), I see his joy and the confidence to create from his imagination. ILS works for our family because it allows my son to thrive in his learning and in his community.

As parents of a neurodivergent child, we wanted to find a school where both neurotypical and neurodivergent children thrive together. ILS stood out as the best in those regards and it’s been an amazingly positive experience.
We’re amazed with how much dedication the teachers put into our children's formation. They understand our child's strengths and limitations and created an inclusive space for all.
The school and ABA teams developed together a formation plan for our child. The ABA team expressed their admiration for the deep knowledge of developmental needs and care the school teachers have shown.
ILS takes a holistic approach to education with the right balance of academics, play and creative expression. During the time at ILS, we have seen our child grow as a curious, creative and well-rounded person.
We're very pleased with the care, dedication and education the school is providing to our child, and enormously thankful for their effort to make our child feel included.

Review Imagination Lab School

We had hopes that this would be the school for our child. On paper, their way of teaching sounds refreshing, inclusive, and innovative, but in reality, lessons plans are sometimes lazily put together, with no obvious progress in the students to be measured and seen. Head of school is a bully to kids with special needs, where these poor kids are sometimes blamed and punished for things they did not do. When communicating with parents of special need children, Head of school makes false pretense that he cares and is open to new ideas of how to deal with a situation, when in reality, he brushes off the ideas completely without a thought as soon as the meetings are over. There are a couple of great teachers at the school to be fair, but hopefully they will find better schools to teach at soon.

We've been with the ILS team since 2017 (AltSchool). We wanted a school that reflected our values of high expectations while being supportive and loving. We value diversity and as a graduate-level educator, I have a strong appreciation for pedagogy and value innovation in education.

We appreciate the strong partnership we have with Chris and the entire ILS team. They build curious, resilient, and motivated lifelong learners. We appreciate the emphasis on SEL—a buzzword many schools use but don’t always employ. We value community building through partnerships with local providers in art, agriculture, robotics, chess, and finance.

The curriculum offers dedicated ELA, STEAM, Math, PE, and Mandarin. Our children learn at their own pace, which means they may cover advanced topics.

I’m not a helicopter parent—I give my kids the autonomy to learn as their minds desire. I have been extremely pleased with the caring individuals my children have become under the ILS team.

My son has been in this school from 2018 till early May 2020 that we called for an early withdrawal from this school, because we found out:

1. This school has not yet registered with California Association of Independent Schools, which means it cannot be held accountable as it doesn’t have any accreditations.

2. My son was left unattended in a seclusion room when he was punished for ’misbehavior‘.

3. My son was bullied by the teacher due to his mental disability by being blocked from accessing the Zoom class which he was supposed to sit in.

4. The school is not professional in campus security.

5. The school refused to support the student and the family when he had special needs.

6. Discrimination based on culture and mental disability.

7. The school ignored concerns from parents.

We tried multiple schools including public school, Montessori school, and traditional private school, but they didn't work well for our son. The schools were either too boring, too rigid, or there were bullying issues. However, Imagination Lab School made huge difference, like night and day. Our son is very happy at school now. He loves to talk to his teachers and classmates. He is so excited about what he learned at school that he wants to study further at home. SEL is part of core curriculum, and we’ve seen how quickly he is able to recognize his feelings and calm himself dow now. In ILS, every students have their own goals based on their unique student profiles. Our son has never complained the classes are boring. Since attended ILS, our son has changed dramatically. He is more confident and motivated. Seeing him thrive at school, we feel fortunate to have such an amazing experience.

Back to Full Profile