Jefferson Elementary School

I have two of my children at Jefferson. One is in the third grade and one is in the first grade. They love school and look forward to each day. My third grader is doing algebra, reads novels, and can diagram a sentence. He has barley any homework (mostly none) and yet is getting a stellar education. My first grader is also doing things beyond my expectations. He does long division, geography, and botany work and blows us away with the amount of information he is capable of learning. He went from barley reading in the fall to small chapter books in the winter with the help of his teacher. She guided us with a plan on how to accelerate his reading and comprehension, and it was so simple. Again, little to no homework, so we can spend quality family time together after school instead of filling out busy-work. I love the "Character Counts" program that the principal has put in place. Each month our family follows up on the goals and the topics including respect, responsibility, and caring. Furthermore, the principal knows most of the 500+ children's and parents names. It blows me away how committed they are at this school. Love it.
--Submitted by a parent

Our son is in the 1st grade at Jefferson and he couldn't have a better experience. The K class was simply amazing, that set him up for a wonderful lifetime of learning. He loves going to school and we have never had a single issue with the other kids (they are just so nice) and we appreciate the feedback with the new report cards. We have another son that starts in 2011 and we just hope the same teachers are still teaching at Jefferson.
--Submitted by a parent

I have had 4 kids go through Jefferson-two that are still there. We have had nothing but great experiences. The staff is wonderful. Many of the teachers have been there for numerous years, and we've seen as the years go by, that many of the students have parents that also attended Jefferson, and have moved back into the neighborhood so their kids can go there. This speaks well of the community as well as the school! My husband went to Jefferson, and we are one of those families that moved back to the neighborhood so our kids could attend Jefferson. There is a high level of parent participation and a large number of parents and community members that volunteer. Great school!
--Submitted by a parent

I love everything about this excellent school except for late start Thursdays.
--Submitted by a parent

I have a daughter in the 4th grade. Her experience is much different from the other 4th grader parent. She is reading the classics and being pushed in math and science and all subjects. Her teacher is wonderful. If you are a parent that reinforces the importance of school at home, your child will absolutely flourish at Jefferson. My other child is now in high school, Jefferson prepared her to take all honors classes through middle school and now in high school. Both my children will go to college, and their strong foundation started at Jefferson
--Submitted by a parent

This school isn't able to educate children. When you have 4th graders learning blocks of ten, there is a problem. We took our child out of the school and placed him into a private school and now he is doing algebra and can do long division holding remainders and they diagram sentences and things like they should really be doing in the 4th grade. Thank God we made the decision to place him into a private school. We have to pay for it, but it is worth it because I want to see my child go to college. I see kids that can't even multiply going to Jr. High School that were educated at Jefferson. 6 hours of school a day doesn't cut it. The teacher and principal could care less too, and talking to them is a waste of time. Excellent example of WA Schools here. Thumbs down! Yikes!
--Submitted by a parent

cool, awesome and UBERLICIOUS!
--Submitted by a student

We currently have one child at Jefferson and pulled one from the school this fall and placed him in a private school. Jefferson class size is too large and kids that are quiet and shy just tend to slip through the cracks. The child learning spread in the classrooms is too vast for the teachers to reach all the kids.
--Submitted by a parent

This school isn't what it is cracked up to be. The students in the class that my son attends don't have any discipline. Lots of pushing and the kids are running wild. The WASL scores are declining also. This is our childs first year attending this school and his education is declining, regardless of the WASL test. Next year he will be going to a private school. We won't allow our child to fail. The school district is failing our children. We are scared!
--Submitted by a parent

Our daughter is currently in 1st grade and started at Jefferson in Kindergarten. We were a bit unhappy with the timing of announcements of which teacher she would receive for 1st grade. When the announcements finally came out we were very disappointed when she was initially put into a K-1 program. However after having a couple discussions with the principle and her kindergarten teacher the school allowed us to have our daughter moved to a standard 1st grade and we have been very happy with her teacher and the academics at Jefferson.
--Submitted by a parent