"These teachers, they say something and they want you to question it, at least to see if you're paying attention," Johnson said. "They allow them to think. (Kyle) has opinions. He talks about what's going on in class, what he learned that day."

They won't really know how it's going till she sees a report card for her son. She knows he could use some help with reading and English.

It's only a month in. Like everybody else, she said she wants to see the test scores.

"I don't want to get too excited," she said. "You've just got to wait for the grades."

CNN's Poppy Harlow and Laura Dolan contributed to this report.