341 Smiley St
West Lafayette, IN 47906

I've sent two kids through school here. I would agree with the above poster that talks about the strictness and general authoritarianism. Things like doing the "floss" or "dabbing" are against the rules...so strange. We've had wonderful teachers and not so wonderful teachers. It really is hit and miss. My oldest is loving everything about WLIS (the intermediate school)--such a better experience. I just think the teachers are happier.

The school curriculum and teaching approach is centered around high ability math students. All the way through high school these students are given most of the opportunities. If a student is not a high ability math student then they are separated in math class starting in the low grades. Not "extra help" but separated in a way that feels humiliating to the child, especially for American children of color. There are no other 'abilities' that are magnified and supported. The students do no write or reflect in the classroom. For language arts, they are presented with mechanics that make learning about language and communication very dry and dreadful. They spend a lot of time separating kids based on data but not a lot of time cultivating various types of intelligences or learning styles. Communication with the parent is minimal and by 4th grade parents are strongly encouraged to be hands off with time management and due dates. Then, when the child gets behind, the parent is retroactively held accountable. This only further elevates the 'high ability' math students to surpass in achievement and leaves other children behind. Sadly, I would strongly recommend against this school. Surrounding school districts are much better, with the benefit of lower property taxes.

The attitude at this school is that of arrogance and lack of support for students. The test results are based on students' self-study and parental guidance and have much less to do with the quality of the instruction. Students are actively discouraged to challenge themselves and are even prevented from taking challenging classes from fear of "diluting the program". That seems to be the main concern there, not student progress and effort. If the student does not come 100% prepared from home, there is no help, just rolled eyes, arrogance and put downs. Very unsupportive environment.If you have your kid in this school, the positive could be that the attitude of (a big percentage of) the other students is academic-oriented. Thus, there may be more peer pressure towards excelling. However, some teachers, and more specifically the Math (and with some exceptions Science) department teachers display a sky high arrogance, do not contribute anything positive to student growth.