Cumming Elementary School

Excellent school ! the rating doesnt truly say how good this school is !

My daughter graduated this year from Whitlow, it’s amazing school which gives a great opportunity for kids to learn STEM in a most challenging and yet fun way.

- The Dual Language Immersion (DLI) program is a huge disappointment. It feels like the school sold the parents a bunch of nothing just so they could get more money. They don’t teach the kids much at all, so don’t expect your child to actually learn Spanish. The Spanish teachers are the better teachers, however. They just need to advance the curriculum. - If your child is highly gifted, do not send them here, send them to Montessori or Fulton Science. The Gifted program is inadequate for those with different learning needs. My child was incredibly miserable at KME because of how stifled he was, and his teachers held him back so much that it shattered his self-esteem and he is still recovering two years later.- Similarly, if your child has an IEP or 504, this may not be the best place either. KME does the bare minimum for students. Here’s the deal. They focus on making sure all the kids do the MTSS (it basically the minimum standards-it’s a state curriculum thing) every day. It’s brainless work, but that’s why they rank high on test scores but not high on anything else. So every day the kids do their “MTSS” (the work for the day) to make sure everyone has learned whatever everyone needs to learn. It’s teaching to the lowest common denominator. But if someone needs extra help, they are screwed, because then they go on the equivalent of a company’s Performance Improvement Plan. And if a kid is ahead and already knows the information, they spend half their school day looking out the window because they aren’t allowed to do anything else (they won’t even let them read a book!).- Bullying (social/verbal/physical) is a huge problem, and teachers / staff do not manage this properly and effectively, nor do they bother to always notify parents. Teachers will also punish the victims as well, including on their report card. Teachers also do not step in when children are being racist, or when children are bullied for standing up to racism. There is so much room for improvement here.