Fusion Academy - Berkeley Reviews 

For many neurodivergent children, the struggle doesn't start in high school, it begins the moment they step into a traditional school setting. From early childhood through middle school, our son was trapped in an exhausting cycle of negative feedback. Year after year of being told he didn't fit the standard mold slowly eroded his confidence, replacing his natural joy and exuberance with anxiety, self-doubt, and deep frustration.

As both a mother and an educator, watching the traditional system break my child's spirit was heartbreaking, and as a family, we felt completely out of tools. Finding Fusion Academy Berkeley didn't just change our son's academics, it is actively helping to reshape his mental, emotional, and social life every single day.

Under the leadership of Head of School Daniel Wright, Fusion Berkeley replaced that lifelong negative feedback loop with genuine understanding, acceptance, and encouragement. Daniel has assembled a remarkable team of educators who look past the surface behaviors, recognize a child’s true strengths, and meet them with unconditional respect.

Because of the 1-on-1 model and the incredible culture Daniel has built, our son is calmer, less anxious, and finally feels safe enough to learn. For the first time in his school career, he is seen for who he truly is.

Fusion Berkeley is helping our son rebuild his confidence day by day in a safe, encouraging atmosphere that sees him for who he is and meets him right where he’s at. We are endlessly grateful to Daniel Wright and his staff for providing the safe haven our son needed to finally flourish.

Our son (diagnosed with ADHD) completed most of his CA math requirements at Fusion while he was concurrently enrolled at his public high school. The classes at his high school were too fast-paced and standardized for him to keep up. He was beginning to think he was "too stupid" to learn math. His instructor at Fusion was absolutely fantastic, teaching him at a pace and in a way that helped him gain both confidence and learning skills. With her help, over two years, he began to understand many concepts, gain confidence as a thinker, and recently, he proudly graduated high school (for a long time, absolutely none of these things were a given). He was also accepted to several great four-year colleges this past year. Looking back, we know that Fusion was the place where he first really became interested in working for his own future, and we are grateful to everyone there who took the time to see him and work with his learning style and his strengths. I'm so glad we took a chance on Fusion as an alternative learning solution.

My son went to Fusion for his senior year of high school. We truly wish that we found Fusion sooner. At Fusion he found a community of teachers/mentors, students and the administrators who all helped him to thrive in ways that he had not previously. In his own words, he found a place where he could succeed and believe in himself.

We chose Fusion because we felt like they would see him as an individual and that’s exactly what they did. Daniel and his team were so responsive. When we had feedback they listened, when we had concerns they helped us problem solve. When we told them what our son needed they really helped us to develop a plan around that, as a team. We’re very grateful for all of the growth my son experienced at Fusion.

They had a wide variety of classes and great teachers. Every teacher took a genuine interest in his learning and growth, and it showed. He participated in a club and the senior activities. I would definitely recommend checking out Fusion.

Daniel and his team at Fusion Berkeley are amazing! Positive, helpful, supportive, accommodating, truly and consistently a pleasure to engage with over the last four years. And most importantly, concurrent enrollment at Fusion (in addition to our child’s nearby public school) added essential expertise and resources to our child’s education that were crucial to both academic success and self-efficacy. We are so grateful to have been able to offer our child the best of two very different educational settings - the diversity and character-building “real world” environment of public school, and the individualized learning offered by Fusion.

My daughter needed some math lessons and we contacted Fusion to see if they could provide them one on one.
We were very happy with the process and the result and so my daughter too. It’s a nice place to learn and Daniel the Director is always on top of things and the communication between the staff and us was smooth and quick.

You all were incredible partners in providing a safe landing place for our son after turbulent school experiences and helped him find confidence and even appetite to pursue knowledge and explore his creativity, interests, and dreams.

The administration and the teachers have been so attentive and interested in getting the experience right for my son. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate this. It has turned the page on what a school experience could be. ❤️

I formerly attended fusion academy (during 23-24). The 2 stars in this review are earned by the good teachers and staff at faB, though the remaining 3 are lost at the rest of the staff, much of the atmosphere, and student culture. When it comes to academics, the school excels, the one-on-one classes being able to cater to every students needs and preferences. But beyond academics, the culture within FaB is rough at best. There are conflicts not only between kids but also between staff, physical outbursts from students being common, and community is difficult to find due to the extremely clique-y nature of the student body. A major point for disdain for me is also the leniency of suspensions. For example, a student physically and verbally berated a much younger student (multiple occasions between different people), and was put on only a 2 week suspension for their actions. Administration fails to recognize that suspensions don't have weight anymore, with some students having well over 40 suspensions (anywhere from a few days to multiple weeks) under their belts and still continue with the behaviors that gained them said suspensions. Fusion Berkley, academically, is a wonderful school with teachers who understand the complexity of different situations with students, and it offers targeted support for learning.

Fusion loses me at its poor student culture, its lack of disciplinary action, and a number of staff who consistently show a total lack of professionalism and maturity.

If your child needs one on one learning, yay fusion.
If your child needs to be happy and have friends, reconsider.

Everybody there was amazingly excellent

I am pleased with the attention to learning that my child receives and the daily progress reports. He seems to be enjoying the learning experience and is doing well. I would like to have him do more in-person learning because I think he is missing the interaction with his peers. I would like for his teachers to encourage him to show up for more in-person learning. This is not a criticism of the staff, just a cry for help from me.

One on one attention. Daily progress reports. Positive attitude and care in teaching.

Daniel Wright, the teachers, & staff have been so supportive of my child & our family. Daniel has clearly demonstrated that he takes action on school policies and follows up, which was not the case in our previous school. My son loves coming to Fusion. At his previous school, he felt fearful and unsafe. We are so grateful to everyone at Fusion Berkeley, CA.

Excellence all the way around! Great admin, teacher Jenna Weiner!, and operations, Kat!

So far so good. It has been about 2 months since my son joined, and the one to one system seems to work well for him. Also, the tools to help with executive function such as the daily reports and the app.

Unique model for teaching one on one- my daughter has truly thrived!

The one on one format, rapport and sense of connection my son was able to develop with his teacher, who has been warm, caring, and interested in him as a person in tailoring her approach to his learning style, has made all the difference in re engaging his interest, success, and confidence as a learner.

Our child’s experience with fusion was very positive. She was able to focus on her classes, do excellent work and enjoy the learning process. She found the homework cafe to be helpful for getting her work completed and turned in on time.

My experience with fusion academy was good and I enjoyed my mentor and she has helped me to understand Algebra 1 terminology and how to use the tools. I believe that without this help, I would be lost for my first day of school as a sophomore. Now I feel ready. Thank you Ms. Aasiyah Berhane for making math fun again

The classes here were great and instilled confidence in my kids.

Fusion teachers have made a warm and consistent connection with our child, and have provided challenging and engaging instruction.