Jefferson Elementary School

School helped me to achieve through elementary school, with a lot of supporting teachers of note. I am now at Columbia, and I often remember the environment that was so centered around learning, yet at the same time seeked to advance the students through many activities and there was always lots of parent involvement. The review by a parent below me is one very characteristic of many citizens of Maplewood/South Orange: priveledged with lots of self entitlement. If your child isn't performing it MUST be the teachers fault. How could your child possibly do less than perfection? They must just hate him/her! You may either interpret the teachers as stepford wives, or as faculty that is fiendly with each other and makes the school a relaxed, comfortable place, that strives to make you feel like a family (trust me they give a lot of speeches about that, it gets annoying). Personally, after having gone there (and knowing the excuses I told my parents) I would call it the latter.

Teachers treat the school like there own personal social club.... School is run by the stepford wives... all students are expected to be robots.... not a good school for anyone that doesnt fit into the mold.
--Submitted by a parent

I believe that the quality of the academic programs at Jefferson school are 'what they can be' based on what the district board allows for. The math program is very fast paced, which requires students to quickly recall basic addition/subraction and multiplication/division facts by Nov(grade4). The Lang. Arts program is much more loosely constructed. For this school to meet its AYP, there needs to be a drastic change in the overall Lang. Arts program. The writing portion seems to be getting better with its focus taking a step back making sure all students are able to master sentence construction before moving on to paragraphs/essays. The reading portion needs the most improvement. The program lacks teaching of comprehension skills. Accountablitly needs to be refocused on the district heads and curriculium choices. Teachers are doing what they can with what they have.
--Submitted by a teacher