Gold River Discovery Center K-8 in Gold River

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	8/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) data from California Department of Education, and using 2025 California Science Test data from California Department of Education.
Student Growth	4/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from California Department of Education.

Posted: July 22, 2025

We have been very happy with our experience at GRDC so far. The strong parent involvement really helps foster a close-knit community. The teachers weve met are dedicated and compassionate. The principal is approachable and actively engages with students, whether its greeting them with high fives in the morning or joining in on games. The school also offers excellent electives, including art, music, PE, and drama, as well as a variety of after-school clubs. Its a warm and supportive environment, and we feel truly grateful to be part of it!

Posted: July 22, 2025

Posted: June 6, 2025

The school has a lot of parent involvement which translates into support for the school. Most of the teachers are good too. The pricipal, Mrs Zeltvay, however, leaves a lot to be desired. She is completely unresponsive to parents and the school has fallen into disrepair under her leadership. She is short tempered and shrieks at the kids. She seems ill suited for the job and seems to be biding her time until retirement. The school deserves a better principal.

Posted: June 6, 2025

Posted: November 23, 2024

I went to this school from 2nd grade until I graduated 8th grade in 2023. Some of the teachers here were some of my favorites I have ever had! This school also has a good VAPA program where you rotate either every day or every trimester between Music, Art, PE, and Library for about 50 minutes each of those days. Mrs. Cadenhead, Mr. Strombom, Mr. Avilla, Mrs. Trevino and Ms. Collins were some of my favorite teachers! This school is great for both elementary and middle school! There are also very many fun activities, and the student population is mostly nice.

Posted: November 23, 2024

Posted: May 16, 2024

Having five children that have attended GRDC (two still there and three in high school) , I feel that I am adequately qualified to give an honest review of the school. :) First, the Covid-19 excuses are getting old. GRDC was more prepared than most, thanks to immense parent involvement and resources. Friends that work in schools in poorer neighborhoods in the SJUSD can offer true horror stories. All five children were at GRDC during the lockdown and it was truly a mixed bag and teacher-dependent. Some teachers shined (shout out to Mr. Waldron and Mrs. Cadenhead) and some mailed it in. We decided to hire personal tutors for two children due to an absolute lack of adequate instruction. A large number of families left for private schools and never returned. What about the masses that couldn't afford this option? If we're going to continue to blame Covid for learning loss, can we not also show grace to the kids in terms of their social and emotional development? I feel like teachers and administration forget this when handing out punishment at GRDC.

Fast Forward to today. Parent involvement at this school is fantastic and probably the best I've experienced. The PTO is highly involved and provides a high level of funding. I think teachers at this school get far more support than many surrounding areas in terms of money, parent volunteers, etc.. A friend that teaches in a nearby district has 4 homeless students in his class alone and that likely isn't a common issue here (only 17% are considered low income at GRDC per this site). Like any school, the experience will be highly teacher-dependent. Some are great. Some are biding time until retirement and it's painfully obvious. Like a previous reviewer, I'm torn if I feel that middle school prepares kids for high school. Class sizes are small, clubs and sports are limited and the academic rigor is questionable.

The bad: agree that bullying is rampant and fights are frequent. My kids show me the social media videos on a weekly basis. :( My child didn't attend a class for nearly a month due to confusion on his learning track and the only way I found out was picking him up early on a Friday-no one could find him and this isn't a large campus. How does this happen? I question safety because it's not hard to just walk on campus any time of day unobstructed.

I would still give this school a lukewarm recommendation but not with the same enthusiasm I would have offered 5 years ago.

Posted: April 9, 2024

As a teacher at GRDC for over 2 decades, I want to address the 1 star review: unfortunately, our school is facing challenges like many schools after the Covid shutdown. However, I am immensely pleased with the work of my coworkers and with our administration's ability to create a positive learning environment and to meaningfully engage with all students. Our new administration has implemented student store, Student Advisory meetings, Monthly Character Recognition assemblies. Our 2 administrators are responsive to student needs-- investigating and helping teachers implement a SEL program when it was determined that this was a need. Mrs. Zeltway and Mrs. Allan are both real assets to our school. Their vision is aligned perfectly with our vision of a learning community that is caring, diverse, and dedicated to the safety of all students, excellence and success for all students. Mrs. Zeltway is hard working, dedicated, visible, and caring-- high fiving kids, playing 4-Square and basketball with students, running the Gaga Ball Pit. Both she and Mrs. Allan deliver positive messages in our school's daily Morning Messages on YouTube. Students are in a great place with our current administration at the helm. This school definitely prepares students well for their educational future.

Posted: April 9, 2024

Posted: April 8, 2024

We have two younger children at the school( third grader and kinder. So far we had nothing but great experiences at grdc. The new principal is very involved and is doing her best to support positive culture at the school. Most teachers are great and are excited to teach our kids. They are also very supportive and made accommodations with IEP.

Posted: April 8, 2024

Im sad to give a 1 star review. We have attended since Kindergarten and have had a mostly positive experience up until last year. We encountered a tough teacher staffing situation last year with someone out in place that did not teach. This year the middle school experience has been terrible. Fights, no consequences, bullying, and zero teaching. This school is not equipped to teach middle school. There are some wonderful teachers, 5th grade in particular however the bad at the school outweigh the good at this point. My child will not return next year and I fear that a whole year has been lost in their educational progression. Its a sad situation but not enough is being done to correct it.

Posted: April 4, 2024

GRDC was once a very good school, but it has deteriorated. The current principal, Kim Zeltvay, does not cultivate academic excellence and does not welcome true parent involvement or input, except for the fundraising done by the PTO. Test scores continue to fall. Many of the good teachers have left. Bullying is rampant. There are frequent physical fights. Perhaps most concerning is that it is common to hear pejorative ethnic slurs on the playground and multipurpose room, sometimes in earshot of faculty. This was a great school several years ago. Today, it is in trouble.

Posted: April 4, 2024

Posted: March 24, 2020

Love Gold River Discovery Center. The school is awesome, with great teacher and staff, the parents are very involved, and everything has been wonderful so far.

Posted: March 24, 2020

My oldest son is currently in Kindergarten and his homework is assigned at the beginning of every week. This keeps him engaged at home and reiterate what he learned at school.

Posted: March 24, 2020

Mrs. Speights keeps in touch via email and Bloom (an app for the entire classroom to talk to each other). She's also available to talk in person.

Posted: March 24, 2020

Students are told to respect each other, be nice and kind, and they're also learning how to take care of plants and animals.

Posted: March 24, 2020

The principals keeps the whole school up to date with emails and automated calls with upcoming events and incidents that are going on, i.e. COVID-19, etc.

Posted: March 24, 2020

Mrs. Speights tells me what I need to focus on with my child, so he can meet or exceed the year-end requirement.

Posted: March 24, 2020

I see the teacher talking to kids who are a bit rough with other kids, but I haven't seen or heard any actual bullying.

Posted: February 17, 2019

I feel like bullying has been overrated and needs to be more clearly identified compared to teasing

Posted: February 17, 2019

Happier now with new PTO and principal. Looking forward to positive changes

Posted: February 17, 2019

My child has ADHD but is still held responsible for remembering things that are hard for him because he needs to learn I have offered my time to help every year

Posted: February 17, 2019

They say they want to help but dont want to put in extra time or effort on their behalf

Posted: February 17, 2019

Make efforts to show empathy from one student to another

Posted: February 17, 2019

Love the new principal! She really seems to be making positive changes for our future students and staff

Posted: February 17, 2019

I dont feel they find ADHD as a disability but more of an annoyance to them so only some help in areas that are challenging

Posted: July 29, 2018

My kids excelled at this school and never felt overwhelmed with the volume of homework.

Posted: July 29, 2018

Excellent teachers, who enjoy teaching. Positive role models.

Posted: July 29, 2018

School yard monitors are very effective and fair.

Posted: July 29, 2018

Both of my kids excelled st this school. I am extremely happy with the results and overall experience.

Posted: June 18, 2018

Many families are looking for other options and pulling their kids out of this school. GRDC was a wonderful and safe place for children to learn but since the new leadership came in a few years ago it has really turned the school upside down. The culture is really changing into an environment where the kids rule the school. Many rules are not enforced, bullying is not addressed sufficiently and kids are not reprimanded for unacceptable behavior. The district does not do anything in response despite multiple families speaking up. So sad to see such a great school really go downhill at the hands of a few lousy leaders.

Posted: June 18, 2018

Most teachers are wonderful and are great at pushing students to achieve progress in their education. Others bring in personal beliefs and biases which make it difficult for students who do not share the beliefs of the teachers.

Posted: June 18, 2018

This school has some great teachers and leaders but also have negative influences from certain teachers.

Posted: June 18, 2018

The leadership changed in the last few years and seems more focused on political agendas rather than focusing on student achievement. The new leadership DOES NOT want parent involvement as much as the previous leadership which worries many families. Why would you want to decrease parent volunteer time and input? Because they are trying to change the culture of the school.

Posted: June 18, 2018

The older grades have very little supervision. The middle schoolers are pretty much on their own during recess. My child has told me that when kids are bullied the leaders of the school turn a blind eye.

Posted: June 13, 2017

Posted: June 16, 2016

Amazing staff, education and facility. The faculty and the parents all genuinely care about the education and growth of the children.

Posted: March 21, 2015

My student started Kinder in 2011 at Gold River Discovery Center. My child s teachers have been excellent each year. There have been comments about no GATE program at the school, but GRDC already operates at a higher standard than typical public schools. In fact, GRDC feels more like a private school than a public school. The staff and teachers care about the students, there is an excellent focus on peacekeeping and anti-bullying amongst the children and the parent support is great as well. The curriculum incorporates new technologies, as well as English, Math and Social Studies. Another positive aspect at GRDC is the PTO. They support the school immensely. Over the recent years they have paid for new curriculum, technology upgrades and library monies. The PTO provides a school garden program, art docent program and other community-building activities like BBQs, free dances, crab feed and carnival. Lastly, the Arts are supported. GRDC boasts a full-time music teacher, a fantastic art teacher, an extracurricular band and choir teacher and, most recently, an after-school extracurricular performing arts program. With everything GRDC offers, we are happy to be here!

Posted: October 20, 2014

The community is pretty good but there are a few poor quality teachers that have a serious impact on this school. One first grade teacher was very harmful to my son's education. She complained about him and said he wasn't completing work. He is now enrolled in the gate program in a different school. The leadership (principal) didn't take any action after we had a conference and refused to meet privately to discuss our situation. My take is he doesn't want (or know how) to deal with problem teachers. If you are very active in your child's education AND are lucky enough to get the right teachers, this school is great. The parent involvement is pretty good and the kids are great. One final note, many families in the community have resorted to sending their kids to other schools. This school doesn't offer the gate program so many of our neighbors (including us) send our kids elsewhere. It would be great if the school would focus on what is best for THIS community, get better leadership, and make this a great school.

Posted: January 20, 2014

The Gold River community is very diverse. The teachers each year have been excellent, and have brought their own creativity and love of teaching to my son's class room. My son started Kindergarten here, and is now in the second grade. In the past year, his reading and math skills have gone well over a 3rd grade level, and his teacher continues to challenge him daily. He is praised for hard work, and feels proud of himself. There is very little bullying from what I have seen, and I have volunteered for 3 years now in the class and on the playground. The school is very welcoming, and the parents are extremely active in school and classroom activities. This is a great community for encouraging your child to grow and thrive!

Posted: September 13, 2013

I have been at this school for 9 years! Kindergarten-8th grade. I really miss it! This school has amazing and fun teachers who care about their students and want them to succeed. All of G.R.D.C.'s staff is so kind and caring- I love them all! The students here are all friendly, kind, and very intelligent! If you are looking for a new school for your child, this school is where to go! Your child will make many new friends and will have an amazing overall experience! There are so many fun events and fundraisers throughout the year! *Ooh! And don't forget those awesome coffee hour Fridays! I will definitely be coming back to visit and come to the events throughout the year! I love and miss this school so much! Remember: Everyday is a great day to be a miner! ~*Blue and Gold will always be my colors!*~ ~*Once a miner, always a miner*~ Sincerely, with love, the one and only Alexandra Toni France

Posted: January 25, 2013

We have been absolutely thrilled with GRDC. Our daughter is in 1st grade and has had excellent teachers both for Kinder and first. The staff is kind and responsive, willing to listen and meet needs. Manyof the teachers have children of their own there and I feel as though we all support one another. There is a great deal of parental involvement, an active PTA and many caring families. We love the monthly coffee hour and Walk-to-School Wednesdays. My daughter feels safe, secure and cared for each day. She is challenged and encouraged in her studies. But what I love the most is the community feel at this school. You just don't get that everywhere. We feel so fortunate to be a aprt of GRDC.

Posted: June 30, 2012

Most of the teachers my daughter has had so far have been very responsive. Some are more organized than others but all in all, I am pleased. The current principal is science oriented and that helps set the tone from the top down.

Posted: March 4, 2011

Iagree, Teacher Jane is a phenomenal preschool teacher! She is so kind and patient. We were so grateful for her many years of experience & plan to enroll our other daughter when the time comes. Music Charlie, the Pumpkin patch field trip & the garden were great.

Base	Distance
Coast Guard Sacramento	8.6 mi.
Beale AFB	34.5 mi.
Travis AFB	44.6 mi.

Gold River Discovery Center K-8

Gold River, CA 95670

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Gold River Discovery Center K-8

Gold River, CA 95670

School Ratings

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