Achieving Stars Academy

My daughter was a preschool and then kindergarten student at ASA before we moved to Sunnyvale and enrolled her to a nearby school last Nov. We really miss ASA and we cannot thank all of the teachers and staff at ASA enough for the amazing job they did!
My daughter was enrolled in another preschool and she refused to go to school after a few weeks. With the recommendation of a few of my wife’s friends, we decided to give ASA a try. We were very worried on her first day at ASA and I still remember how relieved we were after seeing the photos with her smiling at the class sent by Ms. Jeanette. My daughter was very shy and spoke almost no English at that time. Only after a few weeks, she started to speak up more and more importantly she became happy and wanted to go to school. Looking back we feel extremely lucky that we made one of the best decisions in our lives by enrolling our daughter in ASA.
My favorite thing about ASA is that the students get very personalized attention and are given the best opportunity to grow and thrive. The students are placed at different classes based on their academic/​motor skills and emotional maturity and can move up at any time as soon as they are ready. You won’t be able to find a place that is even close if you want an academically challenging school. You will be amazed by how much the kids can learn at ASA (ask to see the weekly newsletter put together by the kindergarten students). However, the teachers at ASA make very conscious decisions on placing the students at the right level so each kid can learn at his/​her own pace and is not forced to consume more stuff than they can handle.
The curriculum is well planned and very balanced. The teachers do a great job to create a fun environment. The kids have plenty of play time in the good sized playground everyday (the teachers even help with applying sunscreens) and they also have a great specialized art teacher (Ms. Rosette). They put focus on the presentation and public speaking skills. There is a sharing day every week for each kid in the class to talk about a specific subject in front of the whole class. For the pre-​k and k program, the students regularly perform drama plays and singing/​dancing in front of the lower classes and the parents.
The school is very well organized. All of the directors are very responsive and teachers are kind and accessible. The parents receive a report card every day with the details on how their kid does at the school (e.g., how much they eat for lunch and how well they socialize). They use a Yahoo group to announce regular events and post the photos of the students they take at school (browsing those photos used to be my favorite moments of a week). There are school organized events throughout the year (e.g. Mother’s day, pumpkin patch, Halloween parade and field trips to Happy Hollow and Children Discovery Museum).
A few other extras I want to mention,
* Flexible schedules: half day, core day (–3pm) and full day (–6pm) are offered. My daughter moved from half day to core day and then full day which really helped her transition.
* Enrichment classes offered onsite: soccershot, lionheart sports, keyboard
* Hot lunch program

Has a nice atomosphere and care for the education of young children.

ASA is a wonderful place as a pre-​school for well rounded development of your kids. My son went here for more than a year and the experience has been amazing. We selected ASA after visiting many preschools. I liked ASA because kids seemed happy there, there was a fairly good size playground in the back and my wife liked that they focus on academic learning. My son learned to do subtraction, addition and reading. They also had a regular story time, free play time and also outdoor playing. Optionally you can sign them up for one or both of the sports classes that take place right at the ASA campus. There is an optional music class as well. It is a very good introductory class to music for your little ones, as instead of focusing on technique of how to play an instrument, she introduces them to various music instruments and teaches them to appreciate music. There is art and also additional activities. For example once they made grass-​heads, another time they got some butterfly eggs and kids got to see all stages of development of butterfly. Lastly the teachers they have selected are very nice and the all love kids. Kids feel comfortable enough to go and talk to any teacher. Even my younger son (who is not old enough to join ASA) likes to go inside and look around at the fish and lizards every day when I go to drop my son. In all we have been very happy with this preschool and would recommend to any parent looking for a preschool in Milpitas.

Achieving Stars is a great pre-​school + their kindergarten program are great!!! My daughter «yisin» just join this summer and I can see she improved a lot from her reading + writing skills. Directors Miss Michelle also acts as a teacher always focus on Yisin’s reading and writing skills. Only 3 months, I can see all the improvement~
All the teacher are also great and helpful.
Every Wed is her show and tell, she’s so excited doing the homework and try to writes all the sentences that she learned from school during the day!!!

ASA is the best! Our son, Derek was there for over a year. The directors are very friendly & supportive. They are willing to do anything in any way to accommodate your schedule. They even spend their busy weekend taking the kids on the field trips to the zoo, pumpkin patch, etc. As busy working parents, this helps a lot. We get to spend time with our kids on the field trip without taking a day off from work, which in some cases are hard for us to do as both of us are engineers. Ms. Michelle & Ms. C always arrange some special events for Father’s day & Mother’s day for the kids to know & understand why these days are important to celebrate.
The teaching staffs are absolutely amazing! We’ve toured so many preschools before putting our son into ASA. When we toured ASA, we could feel that this school is different from other school. Every time we stepped into ASA, teachers were busy working with their kids. Other schools that we toured, the kids were either playing on their own & running around. As soon as we stepped in to tour, teachers started to sit the kids down for circle time. ASA curriculum is designed for their students’ success. It’s amazing how much our son learned at ASA. Derek is a very quiet & shy boy. On his 1^st day of school, I remember seeing Ms. Jeannette welcome him during morning circle, making him feel comfortable & welcome. He came home after the 1^st day saying «Mommy, I love my new school!»
Although he may not talk a lot in class, he came him showing us all the knowledge he’s learned from his teachers (Ms. Christy, Ms. Jennifer, Ms. Jeannette, Ms. Nadia, Ms. Katie, Ms. Madhu) and showing off his artistic skills that he’s learned from Ms. Rossette. He’s started Kindergarten for 2 days now & his new kindergarten says «Derek is doing amazingly well» & is impressed with his knowledge & that he is a great listener. Thanks to ASA for preparing our son well for the next level. We are very blessed to be part of ASA family. We just wish that ASA provides potty train so we can put our 2-​yr old one in. In any case, we will be back when he’s ready. Thank you again, Ms. C, Ms. Michelle, Ms. S & all the amazing teachers! See you again!
Absolutely 5 STARS for ASA!

A.S.A is absolutely amazing! It is by far one of my favorite preschools in the Bay Area! The staff are all warm and welcoming, and the Directors are very supporting! The communication between staff and parents is incredible, and they work closely together to ensure each child’s success in school. As a former A.S.A educator, I can personally say their staff is well educated and held to high standards. Staff participate in monthly workshops/​trainings, and are required to have a teaching permit by the state of California. Directors are constantly encouraging staff to continue with their education and assist them in anyway possible! They are very flexible with teachers so it is possible for them to continue their education. Everyone is a team player and are very approachable.
As a licensed educator and childcare provider that holds a Degree in Early Childhood Education and State of California Director’s Permit, I can honestly (and professionally) say curriculum is age appropriate and stimulating for all children. One of my favorite things about A.S.A was how they constantly introduced new ideas, animals, manipulatives, and so much more to the children! They always were sparking the children’s curiosity and allowing them to explore. A.S.A has great transitions, and the classrooms are set up perfectly allowing a ton of space for children to learn and play. Also, the classrooms are filled with age appropriate manipulatives and activities. Circle times are fun, upbeat, educational, and engage the children. All classrooms are kept cleaned and organized. Also, they are awesome about teaching children how to wash hands and cover coughs/​sneezes! Something all parents can appreciate!
It is a structured learning environment, but teachers are 100% positive and make sure they are building children’s self esteem, not breaking it! Teachers develop their goals for their students based on where they are at develop-​mentally. They try to challenge them academically to keep them stimulated and support growth!
A.S.A was such an absolute blessing to have and I learned so much from the Directors and other staff members! If I had not opened my own child care I would have spent my entire teaching career at Achieving Stars Academy! I LOVED my job, and I know the current staff members do as well! I could go on forever about how fabulous the school is and all it offers, but I’ll leave it to you to check them out and see for yourself! When it’s time for me to put my child in preschool A.S.A will be my go to school!

My partner and I are considering moving to San Jose, but needed more info about the preschools in the area. We stopped by Achieving Stars (and a few other local options) on our last visit. We were incredibly impressed with the school. It was well-​laid out and stocked with lots of fun activities for the kids, and the children looked very engaged in the activities the teachers were leading. My partner got to talk with the Principal for quite some time and she was really thrilled with how caring, knowledgeable, and thoughtful she is. Achieving Stars Academy helped us to feel more secure about considering the move!

My daughter Kalani went to achieving stars for 2 years for preschool and kindergarten. She graduated there in June of this year. I cannot say one bad thing about this school. I’ve toured many preschools and this was the best one. I wish that they went all the way up to high school because I would have kept her there. The facility is so clean and organized. The teachers are all equally wonderful. The first day of school my daughter was nervous and she cried when I left. The director, Ms Michelle was so kind to send me pictures of what Kalani was doing and when it was time for a nap she even was so kind to lay with Kalani to calm her nerves and put her to sleep. All the teachers even the ones that don’t directly work with your child all have a special relationship with them. Everyone greets you right when you enter the door. They have such high academics that my daughter was able to learn things at an accelerated level. Now that’s she’s in public school it’s way too easy for her. I had to fight with the public school just to get her to accelerate. She’s made such great friends and because the school isn’t so big the parents get to know each other. They schedule field trips on a weekend just so the parents and their kids can go together which I think is an awesome idea. Both my daughter and I miss the school and everyone there. I HIGHLY recommend this school. I cannot wait to put my youngest daughter there when she comes of age. Also a plus is the price. You definitely get way more than you pay for. I know a lot of people that pay a crazy amount of money for preschool that doesn’t compare to ASA.

My son went here for pre-​school and summer camp after pre-​K in some other school.
We feel we should have kept him here for pre-​K as well. This an excellent school in Milpitas. Low teacher: kid ratio. Academics is up to the standard of other top private schools in bay area. Nice music and soccer classes in summer. Founders of the school listen to complaints and address them promptly. Overall we felt this is a very good school in Milpitas.

Our daughter Kaitlyn went here for 18 months, and I most say I’m so thankful we found this incredible preschool. The facility is very clean, well managed, and secure. The staff are so friendly, they really care about every child on a daily basis. I never once worried Kaitlyn was not getting the love and support to help her grow during this important time in her development. We really saw her appetite to learn flourish due to the structure and curriculum ASA has in place. We are so impressed, we plan to have our second daughter go her when she turns 3 year old.
THANK YOU SO MUCH to all the Staff at ASA! We are truly grateful for all you have done to help Kaitlyn enter Kindergarten ready for success. Today was her first day, she was so excited to take the next step in her education.
XOXOX
Eric, Hieu, Kaitlyn, & Ella

This is the review for the tour only because my son has not enrolled yet
I visited this school two days ago, and the teacher spent more than 1 hour explain to me about the school and answer my questions. I felt guilty of spending so much time especially when it was passing 5pm, but the teacher was so patient. I am very thankful for her time, so in return I will spend my time to write a detailed review, and hope to help other parents to choose the school.
1) Security You have to pin codes to open the door to get in, and the teacher told me that they discourage parents come in and out too often. If parents do that, they will not accept their child. I think it is reasonable and right thing to do.
2) Lunch, they have hot lunch program, and their hot lunch program is organic and they even showed me a sample, and I think the food looks good. I asked what if my kid does not eat lunch during lunch time once a while. Their answer is that they will offer it again at snack time.
3) Academic, they teaches a lot of stuff. I know that because my friends’ kid are there. When I asked for the average reading level of a kindergarten graduate, the teacher went to ask a kid if he thinks the book he is reading is easy or difficult. She also showed me samples of books.
4) Children’s response: During my visit, I saw one teacher was setting up a tent, and kids were in and out and had a lot of fun. Another group of kids were doing art work, teacher were talking to the kids, and they were very involved. The third group of kids I think were listening to the teacher telling story time, and the kids were focused. During my visit, no single kid cried, and I heard laugh from the group of tent.
5) When I told them that my son is taking care of by nanny, and doesn’t see kids around. The teacher gave me a lot of suggestion such as play dates, Sunday school. She even recommends me to send my son to a family care first to get used to the children. I was quite touched that the teacher offered so much suggestion even though my son has not been enrolled yet.
Overall, I feel the teachers in this preschool really cares about the kids. Their facility is secure. They have strong academic program. I will feel comfortable sending my kid to this preschool.

This review is long overdue. We have been part of the ASA family for more than 3 years now, with our second child in attendance. This school is nothing short of spectacular for many reasons.
We have had the experience of taking my second born to another preschool before attending here, simply because he was not potty trained yet. He attended Merryhill School in Milpitas, and the values of the other school are polar opposites of ASA. This experience is probably the reason why I was able to identify all the positives for Achieving Stars, warranting this review.
1) this place is clean. The whole facility is professionally cleaned every night when the children leave. When the kids use the bathroom, they teach the kids to wash their hands for the same amount of time as it takes to sing the birthday song, then give them hand sanitizer on top of that. This is what nurses are taught in nursing school. Impressive!
2) the curriculum is designed for success. When my 5 year old started transitional kindergarten, he was ready academically, and knew most of the concepts being taught, even though he only went up to the rectangle group at ASA. My son is very active with an extra short attention span. Even with all his personality, he was ready.
3) they truly care about your child. If your kid needs hugs, they get hugs! They know how to treat children and make them feel comfortable in a new environment. They address my children at eye level, and always pay attention to their needs. Whenever I bring my older son to pick up my 2yr old, they always say hi to him, talk to him, and ask how he is doing.
4) they will work with you as best as they can regarding your life schedule, budget, etc. they are not just out for your money. Let me be clear, they are still a business and need to do what they have to do to stay afloat. However, they also listen to your needs and the needs of your child in terms of pricing and schedule. It is a privately owned facility, so they do not have higher ups telling them how to run things.
There is no other place I would recommend for your child. The teachers are absolutely the BEST, and I could not ask for a better school for my kids!’

We looked for a school that gives right platform for our kid who is about to start kindergarten this year. In our books, we looked for academics than a playschool kind of setup and we liked what we saw during the initial visit. What impressed us the most was instead of blindly following montessori or some other approach they had a mix in the best interests of the kids.
Then during the days when our kid been with the school, we are any thing but satisfied totally. Our kind progressed from shy four year old to confident kid who loved to do the homework, loved to read and had immense fun in doing math. We are confident that our kid is ready for kindergarten thanks to ASA.
The level of attention the teachers extended to each and every aspect of the kids progress is amazing. They are bang on the target many times in evaluating the strengths of the kid and where the kid needed the confidence and how to impart that into the kid. They were all very caring, loved the kids as they are.
Be it the way the kid holds the pencil and the ways to improve self confidence, the fun games to play at home to improve skills it is all done in complete professionalism and dedication on the part of teachers.
I strongly recommend the school too any parent out there who looks for a great environment to blossom the necessary life long skills.

Before ASA, we have tried several different preschools in the area. With our older son back then, we were inexperienced parents and new to the area, we picked the brand name schools, like the play-​based Kindercare, AppleSeed Montessori with super long waiting list and the even award-​winning Stratford School. However, nothing compares to ASA! We are so happy that we found this preschool!
ASA selects the best instructional practices from Montessori, high scope and play based programs, which results in more effective learning. The teachers also make learning really fun and are very good at motivating the kids to learn and excel. The directors are fully engaged and very accessible. They have very good communication within the staffs and with the parents. They always listen to our concerns and address them promptly. They provide great education and great service and at a very reasonable rate.
ASA is a small preschool but that only means that the kids are getting more individual attentions. My younger son started at ASA last Aug when he was almost 4. He was placed in the Rectangle class, then they move him up to Pentagon (Pre-​K) and then Octagon (kindergarten) within a few months. They are very good at observing kids and tracking each student’s progress. They will advance a student when they see that he/​she is ready. Like most of the reviewers here, we are totally amazed with our son’s progress. Before he started at ASA, he only knew the letter sounds and he could only wrote numbers from 1 to 10 and not even all the alphabets. Now after 8 months, he is reading at Level B, writing short paragraph with at least 5 sentences, writing numbers from 1 to 100 and doing simple addition and subtration! Their Kindergarten curriculum is vey advanced and well balanced. They are also teaching natural science, social science, PE and art. My son enjoys all the subjects and he can’t wait to tell or show me what he learned in school when I pick him up.
Besides academically focus, they also pay a lot of attention to the kids’ social development. My son has a shy personality. He wasn’t happy when we first transferred him to ASA because he missed his friends from the previous school. The teachers quickly noticed that and helped him start conversations and make friends. Within a week, he’s embracing this school with enthusiasm. When they moved him up to a higher level class, they also moved his best friend at the same time so the transitions went really smoothly.
Other things I like about the school are:
— The facility is very clean, secured and well organized. They have areas designated for subjects like Montessori math, Kinder math, Kinder language arts and they move the students around. It is very cleverly designed and efficient use of space.
— The twice a year performances are so delightful to watch. Each kid has a few lines to recite and they sing lovely songs and dance.
— One of the director took the time to take quite a few pictures of my son on his first day of school and sent them to me throughout the day, just when I was wondering how he was doing. She also takes pictures of the students throughout the week and upload the pictures online on a regular basis.
ASA is truly exceptional and I highly recommend this school! Thanks to all the directors and teachers for their hard work and dedication! We couldn’t be happier!

I don’t often write reviews on Unilocal,but I wanted to write this review for a couple of reasons…
1. Provide parents with an accurate assessment of the school from my perspective.
2. To counter some of the comments from a previous 1 star review.
3. Give ASA a positive, 5 star review because I couldn’t ask for a better school than what ASA offers. The school, staff and overall structure is the best and encourages children to excel as individuals.
The rating says a lot: Of the 8 reviews, 7 were 5 stars and only 1 was a 1 star… there’s a reason for that — ASA IS A 5 STAR SCHOOL!
My daughter has been enrolled at ASA for the past 18 months. She started out as a Triangle and has progressed up to her current kindergarten class, Octagons. Over the past year and a half, she has grown/​developed not only the basic skills needed to give her a solid start in 1^st grade but she has also developed some great friendships that I am certain we will maintain after ASA.
The school does a great job at defining and teaching age appropriate curriculum across all levels. At such a young age, not all kids are at the same level but the school does a great job at structuring the classes to accommodate the different needs of each child and encouraging the individual child to excel in a safe and nurturing setting.
ASA goes beyond the walls of their school. The directors and staff make an effort to set up regular family events such as their annual pumpki patch outting or a day at Kelley Park and San Jose’s Children’s Discovery Museum. These events are an opportunity for parents to socialize with each other and gives the kids time to play together outside of school.
I also like that the school does regular seasonal events in the school such as a VERY WELL organized halloween parade, a holiday performance program, Valentine’s Day social and Mother’s and Father’s Day events. They give the kids a lot of opportunities to demonstrate things they’ve learned throughout the school year and times to celebrate with their families.
The staff, including the directors, Ms. Michelle, Ms. C and Ms. Souza are all accessible. Establishing a partnership with your child’s teachers is key to making sure you’re on top of your child’s growth and potential struggles. Everyone at the school is engaged and interested in your child’s development. Get to know them and be open to feedback and the experience can be very rewarding.
I am so pleased that we found ASA when we did. I like how the school is structured to encourage and nurture my child. I like that my daughter can start a conversation with me about the President (George, Abe, or Barack) and tell me random facts about a president and their term in office. I am constantly amazed at what she’s learning and I’m sure she is well prepped for 1^st grade! I’m confident she AND I will both graduate kindergarten this coming June! :-)
When I read the previous 1 star review, I couldn’t believe it. My experience has been so completely different and consistently good. My initial thought was that not all things are «one size fits all» and that’s apparent here. I know my child needs structure and needs to know what’s expected of her in order to succeed. I hope that other parent found a school that worked well for her, but I know I couldn’t ask for a better school than what we found with ASA. (I’m also skeptical of Sophia’s comments as her only comments on Unilocal for other services are all 1 stars…)
Neither my daughter nor I could be more pleased with ASA and moving her to ASA was the best choice for us. I highly recommend ASA to any parent looking for a pre-​school that is academically focused, structured, nurturing and encouraging of their child as an individual. It doesn’t get any better than ASA.
UPDATE — June 26, 2014
We are ending the school year tomorrow on a high. My daughter leaves ASA with great confidence and truly ready to tackle 1^st grade in August. I’m so grateful we discovered ASA, my daughter has a solid foundation to grow upon over the next 12+ years!

When I looked around the preschool for my daughter, i picked ASA because their curriculum looks very attractive, different program use different ways to teach. And they make the first trial day very felt comfortable at least for my stay there for about 20 minutes, usually they set the time for parents come, so they can prepare.
But after stay in school for 1 month, I felt my daughter not that happy in the school, she kept asking me to change her to another school. You know, as a parent, I was surprised, because everything teacher presented was pretty good and they actively talked with me my daughter’s situation in school.
Until one day, by chance I looked kid’s lunch time, I figured out something wrong there. The whole produre is like boot camp. They have very limited space for thay many kids in the school, so every kid only allocated 30 mins to finish the lunch (including table setup and cleanup time (, that means, no matter you finished it or not, you have to give the table to another group of kid. I noticed the teacher just rudely grabbed the lunch box from one kid even he kept saying ‘i want to eat’, the teacher just said ‘we save it for your snack time’. And two girls asked for water after lunch, even director and teacher stood besides her, nobody provided it. It ended up the two girls went out for play without drinking any water!
Another issue in this school is the teacher has no passion for their job, most of them lack of love for kids. My daughter kept telling me she did not like the teacher from ASA. In ASA, the teacher’s job just like descipline the kids, they always tell kids do not do this, do not do that, like a dictator, no love, no good relationship between teacher and kid at all. It is unbelievable they can get along with each other. It is like they try to train robot, obey, obey, obey, even kids do not like them. I never saw the teacher gently talked with my daughter and smiled at her from heart, they just make order, the kids responsibility is just obey… If the kid do not listen, they will complain to parents. They never found out they have their own problem …
Further, the facility is new but not secure. They have book shelve put in the middle of the room without fasten it. If anybody lean against it or push it, it will collapse. They said they kept telling kids do not push it, if kids do not follow the rule, they will get timeout. But prevention is more important.
Too much thinking time for kids, even every little thing will cause thinking time, for example, kid not sit still during class even teacher do not make it attractive. Too much thinking time will destroy kids’ self-​esteem, please do not do that, kids need positive and encouragement. I really think most school teacher did not have teaching experience at all. I saw one teacher use the satck of paper to hit kid’s head for fun, come on, it is not that funny …
So do not trust what they showed you, what they told you, trust you kids’ feeling, trust what you saw.
I do not recommend this school, for me, my daughter’s happiness and love environment is more important than anything else …

Great preschool! I have had my son attending ASA for about 2 months now and have had a great experience. He is engaged and learning a lot, the teachers are friendly, the facility is very clean and well organized, and compared to other schools in the area the tuition is VERY reasonable. We are moving to a new house and having to change schools so unfortunately we will not be with ASA for much longer.

While I was talking to my coworker about his daughter’s school, he showed me what they were doing in pre-​k at ASA and I was impressed. The teachers at my daughter’s preschool felt that she wasn’t ready for kindergarten so I decided to bring her to Achieving Stars during the summer and if she was able to get up to speed then we would put her into kindergarten at ASA in the fall. Well, after 3 months the teachers felt that she would be able to start kindergarten at ASA and she was off and running. She is now reading, writing, and solving math problems. Due to our work schedule, my daughter is in the extended care program so they will help her with her nightly homework once the class is over at 3PM. ASA has a 12 to 1 ratio so these children get a lot of personal attention which others schools just can’t offer. Each day we are given a daily report on how our daughter did in her class. They also give weekly spelling tests. My two Aunts who are retired elementary school teachers from the San Jose public school system have been very impressed with her progress and ASA’s curriculum. They were saying that the ASA kids are doing what they were teaching in first and second grade. All I can say is this school is awesome!

Just wanted to take a few minutes to rave about this preschool. After my son, now five, began at ASA, he had two years of a home based preschool under his belt. I was concerned because at the age of four, with two years of preschool, he could still not recognize a lot of his letters or numbers. With an older child who seemed to pick up the alphabet and her numbers quickly, I was concerned that he may have a learning disability. As it turns out, he does not. After completing the ²⁰¹²⁄₂₀₁₃ program at ASA, he can not only write both upper and lower case letters, but can write all of his numbers up to 100, unassisted. Also, he can count by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, and 10’s (to 100), without a problem, and can even read. I am now confident about him entering kindergarten and excelling.
I also have a younger child, who is three years old. We started her at ASA in January 2013. She had attended my son’s preschool for a few months, but never made any connections to the school. I decided to switch her over to be closer to her brother, and boy was that a great decision. By June 2013, at three years old, she can write all of her upper case letters unassisted, as well as write her numbers to 30 (with only a little help). She is writing her own name, first and last, her brother’s name, and her sister’s name. As an October baby she qualifies to attend a transitional kindergarten (offered by the school district) in the year before she enters kindergarten, but I have decided against sending her, as I believe that the pace will be too slow and she may forget all of the wonderful things that she has learned at ASA.
I credit all of these achievements by my children to the teachers and directors at ASA. They truly take the time to ensure that a child is thriving in learning, and if they are not, they are quick to figure out why and try and fix it. I truly cannot say enough positive things about this preschool.

I toured about 20 preschools to find the right one for my 3 year old. They varied from Montessori, play– based preschools, academic ones & everything in the middle. I even toured Stratford close to my home in South San Jose.
My criteria was simple — A preschool that has a curriculum that is well balanced between academics, play & life skills in a nurturing environment that instills high moral values & discipline as needed.
After every tour I walked out with a sinking feeling, regarding some aspect which was a bit over the top while others were not adequately focused on.
But when Michelle (one of the 3 directors) gave me a tour for ASA, I knew it was the one for my son.
My son has attended ASA for about 4 months now & I’m very pleased with my choice.
The 3 directors/​owners of the institution are people whom I can trust my child with. They communicate well with each other, & they listen to feedback from the parents & incorporate it in a manner such that it makes a difference.
The teaching philosophy (which I really appreciate) is not to blindly follow the academic or Montessori or play based approach. Instead, they have taken the time to think through the curriculum & the method of teaching that works based on the subject & its implemented very well. For instance, Math is taught using the Montessori approach & reading is taught in a more academic fashion.
They do some pretty neat stuff with the kids to enrich their minds & enable them to become more confident & knowledgeable. For instance — a few weeks back the kids watched a baby chicken hatch from an incubator… that is so cool!!!
The facility is secure, well designed & they have decent sized play area in the back.
Every so often they have get-​togethers for the families, where parents have the oppty to get to know the other families. Last one was a Children’s Discovery Museum in san Jose, on a Sat morning…
They do subscribe to a hot lunch catering service which I avail of all the time — there are a variety of options on the menu including vegetarian & indian options…
All the teachers that teach my son… ms rosa, ms ginette, ms megan do a fabulous job with the kids…
I have seen significant academic/​cognitive progress since my son started here 4 months ago including his social skills & confidence. He really likes going to preschool & is always talking about the new things he learns or surprises me with a song that I haven’t heard before…
I love ASA & I know my lil one has found a home for the next 3 years…