Lafayette Elementary School

3122 Southeast Madison Street

School District

Greater Albany Public 8j
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:12
Type

public

School Map for Greater Albany Public School District 8j

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on March 09, 2023

The school counselor told me that my PDA Autistic 6 year old son would end up in jail, a boys home or juvie.
Submitted by parent on July 26, 2016

I honestly really love this school. My kids have gone to two other schools and, this third school is so much better. Lafayette has an amazing administration they are so helpful and all encourage the students. I have one kiddo on IEP and they actually help and not let him fall through the cracks or just not care. They really do spend alot of time and figure out which kids are needing the extra help and how they can help them learn in a different way. They get to know the kids, they say hi or high five to each kid they pass in the hall, yes different staff do this.
Submitted by parent on October 05, 2014

Funny that the scores for this school are so low, yet the public ratings are so inflated. Makes a person wonder where the issue is here. You can compare our system to Finland all you want, however this is not Finland which means there can be no comparison. I agree TOO much homework is a bad thing. The direction this school went made it so our child was bored in class (one of the quickest ways to destroy a child's desire to learn). Part of the issue is due to the population. When there are near 30 kids in a classroom, the teacher has to spend 40 minutes trying to keep them calm and then 15-20 minutes actually teaching. This is a failure. Another issue is when they give out candy for every little achievement. This is a terrible method of learning. They even have a focus room for problem children who get awards for not getting in trouble (bags of candy). The award for that should be not being in the focus room, otherwise the child is bound to end up in the focus room again so they can get that bag of candy. Its little things like that that make us feel this school is on the wrong path.
Submitted by parent on September 23, 2014

I have two children here, and two more soon, I AM THRILLED THERE IS NO MORE HOMEWORK. Homework is NOT appropriate for elementary school students, it creates rifts at home and is a waste of teacher time and effort. There is no evidence that homework helps students and in fact the vast depth of educational research indicates no homework is appropriate for this age group (see Finland where they play, have recess every 15 minutes, no homework, best school in the world and they are highly diverse ethnically). Lafayette has made a bold stand to follow the leaders in the world and create a challenging environment at school and exercise the kids minds as they should be, with plenty of play as well. For best use of resources and teacher time this has been the best move and all grade schools should consider it. I am glad the administration took action in this positive and active manner to create a real environment for learning for apparently a school were many will be first generation college students. Learning should be fun, a good challenge and kids need to learn how to learn - not be drilled with busy work.
Submitted by parent on September 18, 2014

Very unhappy with the current administration. They've decided to cut out homework entirely due to some children unable to cope with work outside of the school (this due to the parents treating the homework like a punishment). Instead they could have made homework extra credit and kept the parents (who were still involved) in the loop about what their kids are learning. If you want your child to be challenged and actually learn something, then you'll have to accomplish that yourself as this school has taken the approach that it's too hard to keep them all involved and interested in education. If you want a free baby sitting service with chance that your child might pick up on something (if they value education), then this school is perfect. Note: I do have to mention that the volunteers and teachers do try hard even if the administration is failing them. The parents and teachers who care do try to make up for these issues.