Lawton Elementary School

4000 27th Avenue West

School District

Seattle Public Schools
Grade

K-5
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

public

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 26, 2024

The teacher does not teach kids manners here. Kindergarten kids call each other dumb/stupid/blockhead/loser all the time and there's no correction from the teacher. My kid started bringing these languages home and calling me stupid/dumb/blockhead/loser and he's only in kindergarten. If you have kids in SPS, please move away. Attend school in another school district.
Submitted by parent on February 12, 2024

I had to post a review because I questioned the authenticity of the 10/10 rating for this elementary school. My kid goes here and I don't see anything special about the education here. My kid did so well on tests because I taught him at home. The advanced material is being integrated into the classroom. However, there's no monitoring for the kids who take these more advanced tasks or homework. My kid was given different books or online materials to bring home. But that's about it. When it comes to teaching him new knowledge, it's mostly me. So basically the SPS just offloaded the high cap materials to parents?
Submitted by parent on November 05, 2018

9/10 experience! Other than the music teacher, Mrs. Cooper and the older kindergarten teacher, the teachers are all fantastic. Other than that, my kids are having a great time at Lawton! My children started school loving music, but after the music teacher here, they don’t want anything to do with it—it’s very sad as we come from a musical family.
Submitted by other on February 01, 2018

My daughter has been at Lawton for two years, I feel very connected to the community there, and the teachers, librarian, staff and principal are outstanding.
Submitted by other on April 27, 2017

We have a highly intelligent special needs child who is getting great care at Lawton. He is just finishing second grade and has been there since Kindergarten. We are grateful for the consistent support we have received from everyone. The school's front office support is terrific - especially Annette, who seems to know every child by name and deeply cares about them. I saw another comment about the music teacher and I have to agree that she does not seem to inspire my son at least to enjoy music class although at home we love music of all kinds.
Submitted by other on April 21, 2017

Love this small elementary school. They nourish creativity, health and arts education with young children. STEM curriculum has also improved greatly in the past couple of years.
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2016

Lawton is an amazing school. My children have gone there for 6 years each, and they absolutely loved it. The teachers are amazing (not to mention the Washington State Teacher of the Year, Mr.Terry). Very welcoming, amazing staff, and wonderful students!
Submitted by parent on January 04, 2016

When we moved our family to the area, we were thrilled to have landed at Lawton. We were welcomed with open arms and really can't say enough about the quality of the teachers (experienced 1st and now 2nd). They are excellent. The physical education program is unique and very different from what I have seen in other schools. We love the art docent program, the foreign language options, the before & after school enrichment opportunities. The new principal, Mr. Lanza, is kind and caring and is highly involved with students & parents.
Submitted by parent on November 25, 2015

My son comes back very happy to be a part of the school. He is a different child now. I love Lawton and I appreciate everyone effort to turn this in the best school I know.
Submitted by parent on July 18, 2015

The staff was not able to support my special needs child due to lack of resources and flexibility. My child still talks about his time at the school and cries about how they hurt him when they held him with CPI holds.
Submitted by parent on January 13, 2015

Great environmental focus with sustainability education, walking school buses, and teachers that model a bike/walk to work motto. Amazing after school offerings with a wide variety for all loves/interests. PTA supports outdoor field trips, arts, P.E., and enrichment. Love world cultures focus and love the physics Fridays. No school is perfect but with the open atmosphere, welcoming parents, and engaging atmosphere is really close!
Submitted by parent on August 03, 2014

I have 2 children at Lawton - they just finished 1st and 3rd grades. I have found the teachers to be quite good. There is variation of course, as there is always when people are concerned. The principal seems to be highly involved. He has phone me 4-5 times personally about any concerns about my son being bullied (he's very sensitive) and has been able to speak directly and explicitly about education plans for him as he is high-performing and I was concerned about him becoming bored and dis-interested in school. I am not overly fond of the music teacher but overall, the school exceeds my expectations and my kids' like it.
Submitted by parent on November 12, 2013

Lawton is an absolutely great school with strong parents/teachers involvement and a great community overall. Teachers are very involved and seem to be genuinely caring about your children's education and character building . We started at Lawton and then had to be away for a year in a different school - so, we truly know the difference! It is a great environment where my kids thrived. We are very lucky.
Submitted by parent on May 28, 2013

Our son is just wrapping up his first year at Lawton, in kindergarten. I am amazed at the involvement on campus and how much time and energy caring parents put into this school. Lawton has more resources and parent-involvement than private schools we toured. The teachers devote much more than their time into their students - teaching them compassion and the love for learning, in addition to spending evenings and weekends preparing for activities. The physcial education program is outstanding - teaching all sorts of fun like rollerblading and more! Each classroom has Apple technology and iPads. There is a teacher's aide for kids who need a bit extra help, and parents who spend concentrated time with kids in class. This year Lawton implemented a highly-successful art docent program, and to top it off we have a wonderful music teacher. The class schedule seems to work very well with plenty of recess and time to eat lunch. No school is perfect, but any issues that we have seen at school, have quickly been delt with and parents have been communicated regarding what happened. I only wish they taught Spanish! Lawton is a warm, caring community and we are glad to call it ours.
Submitted by parent on October 28, 2012

Love the elementary vibe at this school, the kids seem happy. Our daughter has enjoyed great teachers so far in kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade. The pre and after school offering is also great - she likes chess, jump rope club and choir. The PTA is very active and supports music, art, guest authors etc... I like the new principal and he seems to communicate well with the parents. Spectrum progam is another plus to this school as it is integrated into the classrooms, not separated.
Submitted by parent on February 29, 2012

School has not had positive leadership since Mr. Noh left 3 years ago. Some good teachers, but also some that prove certification and degrees do not mean you can actual teach. Ongoing issues with bullying problems and lack of supervision.
Submitted by parent on October 21, 2011

Lawton lacks strong, sustained, consistent leadership and, thanks to district 'appointments' has had five principals in two years. Two of whom were/are completely new to principalship. The cluster model for Spectrum in now in place so there are no more self-contained advanced learning classes which, depending on your preference may be a good thing. Differentiated homework, according to school policy, is not available although homework is essentially optional. The school has an active core of parents but a lot more parent bystanders. It's not a bad school but not a great school either. There is potential.
Submitted by parent on April 17, 2011

Lawton is having trouble. The staff(some) and principal are not comfortable with the Spectrum self-contained gifted program, so they have "blended" the program into general ed assuring parents the kids will do just as well. It's so ironic that this bastion of white privilege (Magnolia) is so anti-elitist when it comes to placing kids by ability. Otherwise, it's nice to see people who could go private, money-wise, staying in public school. Staff ranges from very good to old school and a few lazy-bones. Principal is so green she squeaks and has her hands more than full with some pushy staff, noisy parents and ill-managed district. Nice building, should handle a good quake, and the janitor, playground guy and gym teacher are A+. Cliquey? Oh ya, but if you live in the attendance area, I would go and enjoy the ride. Definitely a bargain.
Submitted by parent on March 11, 2011

We have young children so I cannot comment beyond the second grade. Of the 5 teachers we've had are, two should choose another profession. I was appalled when I witnessed a teacher habitually using "old school" techniques of embarrassment to gain control of the class. To be fair, large classroom sizes can be overwhelming, but a seasoned professional educator worth their salt should have other tools. The real problem has been the response: Lead administrator response borders on incompetence. Charitably, one could say she has LOTS to learn. There are more concerns centering on communication. As for parent involvement, it is high but you're either part of the "in" crowd or the "out" crowd. Sadly, much like high school.
Submitted by parent on March 08, 2011

We have had fabulous, OK, and not OK teachers at this school, so our experience there has been spotty. We are not nearly as satisified with this school since the years when Ed Noh was there, due to the principal juggle and the new leadership. Parent involvement is strong, but a bit cliquish. The class sizes are large, which might be typical of other public schools, which makes it more difficult for teachers to address more individual needs or the social/emotional aspects of development. So that is not a reflection on the teachers but rather a reflection of "the system". Walk to math and reading are good. The school has been topsy turvy on deciding how to deal with Spectrum, and the communication about decisions and implications of that have been extremely poor. If you are interested in Spectrum you should ask lots of questions about how they are going to implement the program for the 2011/2012 school year.