Renaissance Arts Academy - Los Angeles, California

Kimberly Jung

Our experience at Renaissance Arts has been really good. This school is different, and personally, I am thankful. My son told me, "There are no bullies at Ren Arts". I can see why. The staff is strict and they somehow manage to do what our previous school was not able to do - keep the kids feeling safe.

When my kids started, I sat in on many of the classes to help one of my kids adjust. Almost every day for a year I went to the first 2 classes. I was so thankful that they welcomed me. The only request is that I participate in the class, ie, not be on my cell phone, be attentive. In a large 8am singing class meant (I imagine) to gather the kids together and provide structure while stragglers arrived, I watched the teacher nip every potential behavior problem in the bud with, "I hear someone talking. If someone is talking while X is asking a question, then we can't hear X's important question". Or, "If you aren't participating then we are missing your voice. We need your voice". Everything here is based on the idea of an ensemble. And the importance of the individual within the ensemble is stressed. The ensemble performances that they do twice a year are truly amazing. Imagine being thrown in with different groups of students in your school twice a year to perform. Part of the reason there is no bullying is that you bond with your fellow cast members.

There are some overarching mission statements that you see over and over again that are unique and heartwarming. For example, although there are no tests, they have a lot of essays to write where the kids have the opportunity to express themselves. They are told that there is not right or wrong answer and they just want to hear their ideas. They are often asked to reflect on themes and the teachers don't feel like they have "the answer", but rather are excited to hear what the kids come up with. It feels like college level teaching. To me, this is exciting stuff! I sat in on a second grade humanities class and felt like I was in college: a group of 8 kids plus a teacher sat around the table and discussed King Lear. The kids had so much to say about the age-appropriate rendition of what they were reading. The school also has a social justice bent and the themes of their shows often reflects current events. One of the high school students told me that they read the constitution every year in high school and every time she finds something new.

So yes, there is much here that is going to look different from your typical school. It functions differently and so the form will be inherently different. I feel that as long as the child is happy, that is the best gauge of the fit of the school. And my kids are happy here.

Wyatt Z

I went here for 4 and a half years and I can say with 100% certainty do no send your child here. The school resembles a cult more than a school and the "teachers" aren't even qualified teachers instead recent college graduates who know as much about what they're teaching as the students themselves. The school also treats those with learning differences horribly often chastising students for needing extra help or flat out refusing to help a student. The school gives no grades until senior year when they are created out of thin air. Your grades are dependent more upon how much the directors and faculty like you than your academic performance. This creates a environment based on fear where students never know their standing and undergo constant anxiety about their performance.

Nightman1234

If I were you I would only take your child here if your never going to leave. I went here for three years and the only thing I liked about the school was that there was no homework and that they would teach you to play a stringed instrument of your choice. I had a lot of trouble in school but especially with math. my math teacher or as they like to call it my “advisor” was having a lot of trouble giving me some advice. Every time I would ask for help if we were writing a response to a prompt I would end up with the same answer “write down everything in your head”. Hey man give me some ideas. When you come to the school it feels great, you don’t have any homework you get to learn to play music or dance. But the longer you stay there you start to realize that not a lot of the students want to be there. Some people love it there but based on the people I knew the only reason they hadn’t left was because they knew if they did there was a high chance of them falling behind not being used to have homework daily or because they didn’t get the help from they’re “advisors” that they needed. I was there for the online portion of it during quarantine. They didn’t use zoom probably because they wanted to be “different”. So there was no help once again for me and it was a lot harder to pay attention. They would just play a live stream, talked to some of the other students online and they would literally just put the class on mute and play video games so something tells me that isn’t the most effective way to learn online. I had one zoom meeting and it was them recording us writing our names on pieces of paper as many times as we could in 1 minute. They probably made it look like we were doing work on zoom in like one of those videos they post online or something.

Vivienne Moncure

I go here right now and I think that renarts intention is good but the way they try to express it is not good. I have been going there for 5 years now and I have a dealt with Many issues regarding the staff. I think it’s very hard to express my creativity when I am dancing. Don’t get me wrong I do love all of the dance advisors and I love how my dancing has progressed over the years I just don’t feel like I am truly dancing my heart out because the environment they have made makes me feel judged and embarrassed. They definitely pick favorites no doubt about it which is confusing for most students. I probably will go to a different high school.

Eyewear Insight

Our kids went to school here from 6th grade to 12th. I could not imagine a better school. Both boys are in excellent colleges, and though some specific classes like chemistry, biology in its purest form is missing they are coping well and able to sort through the material and learn it. I'm impressed by that as I believe RenArts thought them to be learners and critical thinkers! That's what I wanted for my kids.

kristy jennings

My daughter is in her fourth year as a student at Renarts. She began as a second grader (the first year Renarts began their primary program) and is now a fifth grader. We've been thrilled with Renarts and their progressive approach to teaching since the moment we began with them. The experience has exceeded all of our expectations:
• an accelerated curriculum tailored around literature, linguistics, math and arts (music and dance)
• appropriately challenging every scholar with personalized attention and care
• emphasis on curiosity, conversation, and scholar led discovery
• developing thinking and communication skills rather than memorization and regurgitation
• school hours are pretty laser focused with little time for play or socializing (pros and cons to this)
• school performances are beautiful and poetic and engage every scholar on every level of execution and presentation (from stage performance to costume, lighting, set design, etc.)

I am touched by and so grateful for the energy, time and creativity that the advisers and staff put into making this school soar above and beyond other LA schools (public and private). We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have been picked from a lottery of applicants.

The covid distant learning has been handled with the same Renarts attention and care found throughout all of our experiences here. No scholar will fall behind.

My daughter’s two complaints over the years have pointed to the lack of play time and the absence of a playground or green outdoor space. This is for sure a heartbreaker for her but given every other aspect of excellence we overlook it - making sure to do our best to supplement with after school/weekend outdoor time, play dates, festivity and silliness.

Francisco Martinez

Our son has been attending Renarts academy for the last two years. It was the best decision we made. The staff are great at helping one out with any questions one may have. Our son enjoys class and interacts with his teachers and class mates. We have seen the progress over the past two years. We love Renarts Academy!

I’ve noticed bad reviews on here some from people with no real names and some who have stated they had a bad experience but then yet they stayed for years. Hmm ? I’m skeptic with reviews such as these. I wouldn’t be surprised that (most) of those reviews are fake and come from people who don’t like charter schools.

90 90

An amazing idea, but executed poorly. During my time at Renaissance Arts Academy, there were people that I knew who struggled as well as those that thrived. But, this is not unique to Renarts. I was of the former, I often found myself unengaged by the staff. There form of "help" was more often then not, unhelpful. There abstract approach to education, was to abstract, to the ponit where the original message became blurred. Further more, in a school that preached strongly about treating all students fairly, that often wasn't the case. Students that were more favored by the staff could get away with most anything. This is nothing new, as most schools exibit some form of favoritism. But for a school built on the idea of equality, it greatly soured my experience.