Whittier Elementary School

"Whittier Elementary is simply an outstanding school. My son has attended for all 6 years of his elementary school education, and without a doubt his experience has been overwhelmingly positive. The parents are actively involved with the school; school test scores are way above both the state and district averages; the teachers are top-notch; and the administration is outstanding. My son is not in the Spectrum program -- just the general education population. I agree with the previous commentary that if you're interested in getting your child into Spectrum, it's very difficult past Kindergarten. However, if you're interested in excellent general education instruction, you simply cannot find a better combination of attributes in a public elementary school than Whittier. Now, if you're only interested in comparisons to a private school education, or to the APP program, you may be disappointed. However, those kind of comparisons are asinine."

"I attended UW's MIT program and interned in a number of SPS elementary schools over the course of '05-'08, which set my high expectations for public schools. The test scores and demographics online make Whittier look like a great school. Unfortunately, Whittier has been nothing but a disappointment since our arrival: terrible for new families not entering through kindergarten--little orientation or effort made to properly place students in leveled programs; the school had a high turnover of principals in the last 5+ years, over which time the parents and PTA gained too much power in the school and the teaching staff became dysfunctional and feudal, per the current principal; veteran families are better equipped to navigate the strong vs. weak teachers; and most glaringly: the school tracks the kids at the end of kinder with no hope of movement up or down (assessment and teacher recommendation dictate initial groupings, but then the kids are stuck. No kids move down to avoid parental upset, which means no kids can move up. New kids are just plopped in groups with minimal data and then stuck.); the Spectrum students and local affluence are what inflate the scores for this school."

"I attended UW's MIT program and interned in a number of SPS elementary schools over the course of '05-'08, which set my high expectations for public schools. The test scores and demographics online make Whittier look like a great school. Unfortunately, Whittier has been nothing but a disappointment since our arrival: terrible for new families not entering through kindergarten--little orientation or effort made to properly place students in leveled programs; the school had a high turnover of principals in the last 5+ years, over which time the parents and PTA gained too much power in the school and the teaching staff became dysfunctional and feudal, per the current principal; veteran families are better equipped to navigate the strong vs. weak teachers; and most glaringly: the school tracks the kids at the end of kinder with no hope of movement up or down (assessment and teacher recommendation dictate initial groupings, but then the kids are stuck. No kids move down to avoid parental upset, which means no kids can move up. New kids are just plopped in groups with minimal data and then stuck.); the Spectrum students and local affluence are what inflate the scores for this school."

"Whittier Elementary is simply an outstanding school. My son has attended for all 6 years of his elementary school education, and without a doubt his experience has been overwhelmingly positive. The parents are actively involved with the school; school test scores are way above both the state and district averages; the teachers are top-notch; and the administration is outstanding. My son is not in the Spectrum program -- just the general education population. I agree with the previous commentary that if you're interested in getting your child into Spectrum, it's very difficult past Kindergarten. However, if you're interested in excellent general education instruction, you simply cannot find a better combination of attributes in a public elementary school than Whittier. Now, if you're only interested in comparisons to a private school education, or to the APP program, you may be disappointed. However, those kind of comparisons are asinine."