Guadalajara, Mexico Report of what it's like to live there - 02/05/16
Personal Experiences from Guadalajara, Mexico
School Name:
American School Foundation of Guadalajara
Background Information:
1. Are you the parent of a child(ren) attending this school? A teacher at the school? Or both?
Parent
2. What grade or grades do/did your children attend at the school? During what year(s) did they attend the school?
5th grade which is middle school
3. During what years were you affiliated with this school?
2014-2015
4. What was your reason for living in the city where the school is located (e.g., government, military, corporate, NGO, retired)?
USG Foreign Service
5. Are other schools available to expatriates in this city? Why did you choose this particular school?
I switched my son to this school during our tour here because my son needed a larger, institutional environment. In particular, I believed the math would be superior to his previous school and I found that to be the case. The school is implementing the Singapore Math curriculum.
Admissions & Welcome:
1. Are the admissions and placement procedures clearly stated to prospective families, either on the school website or through other means of communication?
C (You have to seriously consider that this school has a pre-first grade which throws off the age/curriculum level relative to U.S. schools. So, if you're child is, for example, ready for 4th grade in the U.S., depending on when the child's birthday falls, they might end up in 3rd or 4th grade at ASFG. If they go into 4th grade, then they are younger than all the other Mexican children. This may or may not be a problem. Most parents find that if your child is ready for kindergarten, you might want to insist that your child goes straight into the pre-1st grade rather than their kindergarten grade. An informal survey I conducted of parents moving on from ASFG to other schools told me that, generally, their child was on target with the exception of the English Language Arts/writing skills when they left AFSG.)
2. How would you rate the school's support and welcome/integration of new students and their families, and why?
B (I appreciated that they offer some meet and greets as well as seminars on topics of interest, i.e. bullying or parenting skills, at the school. They have an orientation for new students before the year begins. If one is able, try your best to reach post before the school year begins to help your kid get off on the right foot and into some of these initial offerings).
Administration & School Procedures:
1. Describe the general climate of the grade level that you teach or your child attends:
This is such a mixed bag, but overall, the climate is positive. The children are from highly privileged backgrounds and their mothers are often highly involved in their children's lives, even bringing them lunch daily. The teachers are mostly Americans and the majority of them are pretty good. I appreciated that there is a band at this school (and the band teacher is one of the best teachers there). Generally, the school is welcoming and my son had a very very good experience, despite middle school ALWAYS containing challenges. This was the right school for him and he misses it.
2. For the following attributes, down to the next blank box, grade your experience at the school on a scale of A (excellent) to F (unacceptable/terrible) and provide comments:<br><br>Overall fair and equitable treatment of all students and families:
B (Clearly there are families who have a great deal of pull at this school. There is a tiny proportion of expat families so it's important to understand that this is, culturally, a Mexican school of privileged children and the administration is most concerned with those local families and their support. The consulate pulls no weight and the Overseas School representative from the department is not interested in advocating and would never consider pulling the department grant from this school. So, if you understand what you are getting into and realize this is not an international school, you can be happy here. Don't think for a minute it is like traditional international schools where there is a large body of students from around the world.)
3. How is the overall communication between teachers and parents, and the administration and parents? How is communication facilitated?
C+/B- (The parent must initiate and follow up on communications, not unlike most schools. Their teachers are available via email and do respond to emails. I didn't find that any of the teachers ever reached out to me but they all were willing to talk/make time available if I wanted to discuss anything with them.)
4. Services for gifted students who need academic challenge and students with learning difficulties:
C (This school will say it differentiates but it doesn't and it has a very hard time dealing with individual requests. If a parent is a good advocate and willing to put together an alternative program for a kid...such as advanced math and find the tutor...then I believe the school is responsive. They do not have a GT program nor a special needs program. They are very sensitive/difficult to deal with when it comes to special needs/learning difficulties. If your child has learning difficulties, be sure to check out Thomas Jefferson as they are very open about working with specific needs. They're much more eager to adjust their programming and have even worked with one family to do a half day home school/half day traditional school hybrid program. ASFG is quite self-satisfied and doesn't have the energy to work with non traditional students despite having the greatest resources.)
5. Aside from school fees, are there required expenses such as uniforms, laptops/tablets, musical instruments, or field trips that parents are expected to cover? What are the approximate costs?
Generally speaking, no. School supplies are probably US$100 at the beginning of the year.
6. Availability and variety of after-school activities for various ages:
A (Lots of activities on offer for all ages from swimming and soccer to drama and robotics).
7. Maintenance of appropriately high standards for all students:
B- (This depends on the subject and the teacher. I find that the math program is appropriate. However, I found that English Language Arts, on the whole, was a step below because the student population is that of second language learners. This is true in all the Guadalajaran schools. Depending on the teacher, though, this standard can be higher or lower. In fifth grade, I would have given the language arts teacher a C.)
8. Homework assigned (quality, quantity):
B (Usually, the homework was appropriate).
9. Administration-parent communication:
C (This gets mixed reviews, depending on the administrator you are dealing with. I would give an A to the counseling staff and the lower school Principal as those people were open and I found helpful. The middle school counselor was very good and followed through and works hard. Those counselors are the best people to go to rather than the general administration for anything related to the education of your child or their social welfare. The central administration and current head of the school is completely defensive and seems to be in over his head. The admissions person is totally a mixed bag with some people having good experiences with this office and others having very poor experiences. If you are looking at this school and want to get a sense of your child's grade level, be sure to look up who the counselor is of that grade and email them directly/call them and have an informal discussion. They'll want you to go through admissions, but the admissions cannot answer content-based questions.)
10. Teacher-student communication:
B (No real comment here except that my child felt respected by nearly all of his teachers.)
11. Academics, answer the following questions "yes" or "no" with an explanation if appropriate:<br><br>Are there any classes or subjects where students are not appropriately challenged?
Not challenged in English Language Arts.
12. Does your child receive any special-needs assistance or instruction at this school? If yes, what types? Who provides services and where:
No, and this school has a very difficult time meeting special needs. The school, despite being the best resourced in the city, will claim it can't accept students with mild needs as they're afraid of not being able to meet their needs. However, if this school with the so-called most highly trained teachers can't deal with mild special needs cases, then who could? It's an ongoing issue between the consulate and the school. Again, I say this so that parents go in prepared. You can have a positive school experience in Guadalajara, but you must understand the climate/culture you're entering and its constraints.
For special needs children, check out Thomas Jefferson and the Lincoln School. In my experience, special needs children's parents are challenged to find adequate schooling at nearly every post abroad. I don't think this is particularly worse (unless you need speech therapy which is non-existent) nor better. However, if you're an involved parent and have time to work with a school, Thomas Jefferson might be a great choice or even Lincoln (if you're religious and depending on the kind of help needed.)
13. Do you believe the special-needs assistance is appropriate and fills your needs? Explain:
14. Does the gifted and talented program meet the needs of students? Please explain:
15. Does the school offer a wide variety of elective or non-core classes such as art, music, and drama?
Generally speaking, it's pretty good in this area. They have a band and they produce yearly plays.
16. Please describe any classes or programs that you believe are missing:
Baseball (though there are some local leagues).
17. Are there academic requirements such as trips or other activities that cost money in addition to school fees?
Not required. However, there is a class trip for most grades where the children go away for a couple of nights. It was about US$500.
18. What activities do you feel are missing?
Baseball, though they don't have the physical space for it.
19. Have your children participated in the activities offered? If no, please indicate why:
Yes, participated in soccer, computer programming, and robotics.
20. Does the school provide appropriate assistance to new students?
They provide some assistance and systems to help new students orient themselves. For middle school, there is a time to visit and be introduced to how things work before the school year begins. "Buddies" were also assigned. They need a program where a family is a support to a new family as it's hard to break into this school's culture/world as most of the Mexican families have been going here for generations or at least the kids have grown up together and already have strong ties with one another.
21. Please describe any problem areas or challenges in social interaction at the school:
The school is a local school, composed mainly of wealthy people from Guadalajara. Some of these mothers are highly involved in their children's lives and have the time to be on campus daily. For an expat, it can be challenging to break into this group. People are often super nice, but it's all superficial and can be difficult to make true friends. So, for example, you'll invite a child to come play at your house and the mother will allow it, but then your child isn't later invited to their house and this pattern repeats. It honestly depends.
Academics & Resources:
1. What personal or academic counseling resources are available at this school? Is there a dedicated college counselor at the school? Is he/she familiar with universities worldwide?
B+ (Generally speaking, I think the the counselors for each level of primary, middle, and high school are pretty good because they are both academic and psychological counselors and generally responsive to children's needs. We had a few incidents during the year and I thought that the counselor handled them very well, but I can't say the principal of the middle school was too involved. I found that this is quite the traditional institutional school environment where the higher administration talks the talk about wanting parent involvement but doesn't walk the walk. )
2. Does the school have a library? How large is it? How updated are the books? Can students borrow books to read at home?
A (I thought their library was absolutely wonderful, especially the elementary school library. Great holdings, great set up and atmosphere. It's the nicest library I've seen, though other parents told me their U.S. libraries were even better.)
3. How are information technology resources at the school. Are they up-to-date? Is there a computer lab?
A (Relative to the other 5 schools my family has experienced, I believe the IT is quite good here. I appreciated that students learn actual typing in school. I found that the teachers who integrated technology use in their curriculum, did so very intelligently. It wasn't used as content but rather supported the delivery of content. In this area I was pleased.)
4. Describe the physical education resources at the school. Is there a gym? A swimming pool? Are there playing fields or tennis courts available?
B (P.E. is built into the schedule and generally speaking, it's fine.)
5. What is the approximate teacher-to-student ratio in the grades that your child attended?
B (Standard sized classes, usually in the low 20s)
6. Are Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses available in upper grades? If this is an IB school, is the full diploma required of all students?
Cannot fairly comment except to say that there are AP courses offered at the high school level.
7. Is the amount and type of homework generally appropriate for the age and grade of the students?
Appropriate
8. What fine arts electives are available (music, drama, visual arts)?
B (School has art, music, drama and the band teacher, Mr. Boreen, is excellent. The school puts on a play. There seems to be quite a bit on offer.)
9. Are the teachers at the school required to speak English as a first language--or at least fluently?
Yes
10. What services are available for gifted/advanced students at the school? Please describe your experience with these services, if applicable.
Son is highly capable in math and, generally speaking, the math is of a higher caliber at this school compared to others in the area. However, it still isn't an advanced program. Thomas Jefferson boasts a GT program, but you should look closely at it as it's difficult to determine the true level of training in that GT program.
11. What extra-curricular activities (including sports) are available at this school? Have your children participated in these activities? What activities do you feel are missing at the school?
Yes, there is everything from swimming to soccer to basketball to robotics and drama.
Social & Emotional Well-Being:
1. Do expatriate students socialize with local students at the school? Are both groups successfully integrated into the school culture?
This really depends on your initiative. While everyone is kind, superficially, sometimes it's difficult to get any kind of commitment outside of the school day. A parent has to make a great deal of effort.
2. Are there are any problems with exclusionary behavior, cliques, or bullying at this school? Please describe any problems your children may have experienced in this area.
Yes and no. Difficult to answer this question. I think the school is aware of these issues and has developed a policy on it. A parent must stay vigilant. I found that exclusion is more common that true bullying or teasing. Also, it's difficult to access this since some of these difficulties are part of middle school years where children are testing boundaries and such. It also depends on your child and his/her personality. My child experienced a few periods during the year when a few other kids kind of ganged up on him and caused some trouble, but my child stood up for himself and things calmed down. I know of other students who had harder times and still other students who just had only positive experiences.
Overall Impressions:
1. What is the greatest strength of this school?
The strength was that it offered my son an institutional school environment where the math was good, the facilities had more to offer (compared to the small school we switched him from), he was treated as someone who could make decisions and be responsible for himself as a 5th grade, and he liked that the school had technology and permitted technology at school.
2. Greatest challenge?
In my experience, the administration was defensive and not open to honest discussion about improvement. They so badly want to be seen as the best school in town that they are afraid of admitting their weakness. They want to believe themselves so sophisticated and international in nature, but they aren't. They're a local, Mexican school with an American curriculum and lots of American teachers. They do a good job and the majority of people are good there. I believe the principal/head is in over his head and unable to handle the concerns of expat Americans.
3. Would you choose this school again? Why?
Yes, definitely for my son. However, I would stay far away from the administration and stick to dealing one-on-one with teachers and the counselors who, by large, are a good group. Don't think for a second that the consulate bureaucracy will support you with issues at this school. They won't (and, let's be honest, they have no real interest). Though this was the best school for my son, be sure to look into all the school choices in Guadalajara as there are several and every school has different strengths and weaknesses. My daughter went to the Lincoln School and had the best school experience of her life to date. Check out Lincoln, ASFG, Canadian (lots of happy parents), Thomas Jefferson (on par with ASFG and with a super welcoming administration). There is even Instituto Tepayac and George Washington for further choice. Good luck. Guadalajara is a great posting and if you go in with open eyes about schooling and it's challenges, I believe you can have a good experience there!
