Marathon Elementary School

Elmwood School is hit or miss. The teacher can make a big difference in both the material that the child learns/is exposed to and their adaptation to school( grades 2-3). If the child gets the right teacher, they can be ahead of others in content and mastery of subjects, and vice versa. Unfortunately, where this school fails is with those that learn differently. It is almost impossible to obtain an IEP, or even a 504 plan if your child has a learning disability. We were actively discouraged by both administrators and teachers regarding pursuing testing for one child, though this child was very obviously falling behind. It seemed as if the teachers were aware of the problem, but the culture seemed to discourage getting help. I know IEP’s can be costly, but frankly, it seems particularly difficult in Hopkinton to obtain any type of services, even with a doctor’s diagnosis and testing. This is a well- off community, where providing this type of need-based service should not have to be a battle. Due to this pervasive issue at Elmwood, I feel the leadership is in dire need of a new, more open/ honest approach to this issue. Another issue is that in the past few years the school has changed to a no homework policy. Though some may like this, I saw a huge difference between learning outcomes with my children who did and did not have homework. Overall, I would rate this school the lowest of all the schools in Hopkinton.

The school has high expectations and is very challenging in the area of ELA, specifically writing. A great amount of time is spent preparing the kids for middle school, and critical thinking and writing are stressed. This preparation is very thorough. The only issue is if your child has any type of learning difference or such. This can get tricky and we’ve found some of the teachers to be excellent in this area, and others that seem to know nothing about very common issues and can be punitive. Overall, good education, but increased awareness among the teachers regarding learning differences etc would really help all the students thrive.