James B. Davidson Middle

My daughter is in her 3rd and final year at Davidson, about to graduate and move on to high school. Her opinion would be a 5 star review - that's how much she loves it. We've found it to be very good in terms of academics and social development. She is a straight-A student, so one of the questions was: would she be challenged enough at Davidson? The answer is yes. She had some honors classes which challenged her, but more important, the non-honors classes challenged her as well. Most of the teachers are highly adept at managing a class with students of various learning abilities and making sure they learn at their pace. I know some parents have had some teachers that were not as good at this. Fortunately for us, almost all of our daughter's teachers were excellent. I'm also impressed with the administration. The principal is highly principled! They suffer from not having as much support staff as they could use (as all schools in CA are these days with budget problems), but they do seem to find resources in various places to get some of the most important support staff such as folks to help with people with limited English skills. Each year they do more to integrate Spanish-speaking parents into the school functions and processes. Principal Dr. McLean's three areas of focus are: high achievement, one school community, and increased parent involvement. She's done an amazing job communicating these areas of focus and rallying the staff and school community toward making them a reality. I highly recommend Davidson Middle School. The only reason there are not 5 stars is due to the budget cuts and lack of additional resources and activities, which is out of the school's hands.

Great teachers! Never a quarrel with the level of academic performance and expectations from the students.
There has been phenomenal social spirit and the kids are heard to say things to their friends like "Davidson Rocks!"
The school site is improving all the time. With more parent involvement and local community financial support all the infrastructure can be brought up to a 21st century standards.
Electives are back and the music department is second to none in Marin County.

I have a student at Davidson. He's bright and finds lots of stimulation both academically and socially. We are especially impressed with the music program. It's wonderful to hit the middle school years when art and PE become part of the daily program!