Ducketts Lane Elementary School

Posted: March 20, 2026

Not sure why this rating on this school is low. Becuase this is borderline like a private school. My daughter has gotten the best education and experience. The school and administration takes kids safety very seriously. The school is organized, immaculetely clean. They have engaging events. They keep us parent busy! I am a proud parent to be part of this school. My daughter is in 3rd grade and they do mention they do alot of test. But this school is hands down the school to take your kids to.

Posted: March 20, 2026

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Posted: March 13, 2025

Wonderful campus and school staff.

Boasts newer facilities, an active PTA, student extracurriculars, music programs (band, orchestra, chorus), community events/outreach, art displays, vendor fairs, annual field day and carnival, guest readers, school gardens, educational greenspace, outdoor classrooms, wetlands observation area, a boardwalk that leads to a stormwater management pond, geothermal water source heat pump system, multiple k-5 age-appropriate playgrounds, 2-step entry security, multilingual assistance, a diverse and supportive community, academic and behavioral assessments and services, and more.

Title I school

Built in 2013

Posted: March 13, 2025

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Posted: October 8, 2023

This school is horrible and the pint that there so sexist is so cruel and disgusting I highly recommend you don’t go this school plus there bullying and the teachers are so mean and have so much gratitude and anger in them for innocent minors and students that haven’t done anything bad to them but the student always tend to be the victim

Posted: October 8, 2023

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Posted: April 15, 2021

awesome staff, community and more. (especially the outside)

Posted: April 15, 2021

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Posted: September 9, 2020

Excellent teachers and staff. Engaging PTA, caring people all the way around.

Posted: September 9, 2020

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Posted: December 30, 2018

Ducketts Lane is an exceptional school! My son attended for 1 year before we moved (military) and I could not believe this was a public school! Principal was great, teachers were awesome and all the staff were very friendly! My son excelled while attending and I would highly recommend this school to anyone who is looking for quality and diversity.

Posted: December 30, 2018

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Posted: June 21, 2018

Terrible. The school has rules that the teachers don’t follow. One rule the new rule about touching and hugging. They say boys and girls can’t hug each other as if there are not males in the real world. They said nothing about girls and girls hugging. Or boys and boys hugging, just boys and girls. They assume the lgbt+ community is unknown to the students. It might be unknown to some but not all. If a boy and a girl hug they assume there are romantic intentions but if a boy and boy or girl and girl hug it’s just a friendly hug. Why is that. The teachers can’t even contain themselves from hugging the students. They can’t say don’t hug me or the teachers will call them disrespectful. The principal Heidi Balter can’t seem the restrain herself from touching the students. But she can always get on them about touching other students.

Posted: June 21, 2018

The work given to the students at home is made up of old things they already learned and can’t remember, things they are supposed to learn they next few days and so on. I don like seeing my child come home and get so confused she feels like she can’t do any of the work.

Posted: June 21, 2018

The teachers spend less time teaching students and helping them and more time giving them punishments. If they’re getting punishments for not paying attention than that must be a problem, if that’s a problem why don’t you help them and stop giving the so many punishments. Mabye they’ll like being around the teachers more and feel better about coming to them for help, because I hear my child tell me that she gets so many punishments for inexplicable reasons and she feels that if she asks for help of more of an explanation she’ll get I. Trouble for “inturupting the class”. Also, I’m told that when a question is asked, just by my child or a single child, the question is not answered in a likely manner. For one, the question is answered in a way the child does not understand what to do and they start thinking they’re doing the whole process wrong. They might say they understand but that’s in the outside, they need help from the start not in the middle when they’ve already given up.

Posted: June 21, 2018

Leadership by the children is efficient but not by the teachers. The students have their own social friend groups and they work out just fine, until the teachers come in and get the children suspicious of what might happen. The children think someone or themselves are in trouble so they get mad because they don’t kniw what they did. They don’t like the term,”don’t talk to an adult like that”. Times have changed and the students just want to be treated fairly and like a collleague to the adults not like a slave to be forced to go to school and have a good day.

Posted: June 21, 2018

Posted: March 12, 2018

Posted: March 12, 2018

My son has had an absolutely incredible transition from NC to MD. His teachers are amazing and truly care about the kids success! They are very good with communication and recognize when a child requires a different approach to learning.

Posted: March 12, 2018

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Posted: March 12, 2018

My experience with Ducketts Lane has been incredibly amazing! We are a military family and transitioning can be very hard on the kids. Ducketts is truly an exceptional school with diversity and lots of opportunity for the kids to learn music and art. Truly all the staff has shown compassion and I’m so excited for my son to grow in the school!!

Posted: August 10, 2017

My son had a wonderful teacher at K. He had reasonable curriculum based on his level as well as weekly homework with test each Friday. The building and new equipment is great. PTA is amazing! Before and After School Care program at school is awesome! Also, PTA provides 2-3 different classes for affordable price after school day: science, art, karate, chess and etc. My son loves the school and even wants to come back after the summer time!

Posted: August 10, 2017

"Above expectations" level kids in K got homework each Monday for the whole week.

Posted: August 10, 2017

Posted: August 10, 2017

Great environment! Strong rules! All teachers are very respectful to kids.

Posted: August 10, 2017

My son completed K. I can't rate it yet.

Posted: August 10, 2017

They have enhanced program kind of GT even for kindergarteners. And Spanish starts at K.

Posted: August 10, 2017

No experience fortunately. However, there is an opportunity for dads WATCH DOGS (if I'm correct) to volunteer preventing bulling.

Posted: March 21, 2017

I haven't had to deal with that issue so I don't know.

Posted: March 21, 2017

Depending on what the IEP teachers feel it can be a battle to get and continue services. The best I can say is to be an advocate for your child and if you know that your child need extra help, but you can't get the school to help.... get a lawyer! It's this way in almost all school systems.

Posted: March 21, 2017

The staff seems pretty friendly, and the principles seem very understanding.

Posted: March 21, 2017

I sure every school has it's issue, but I haven't had any major issues that has caused me concern.

Posted: March 21, 2017

My daughters teacher Mrs. Shull makes learning fun and my daughter loves her. So I am happy!

Posted: March 21, 2017

I have a child in kindergarten so they don't have mandatory home work.

Posted: March 21, 2017

It's a good school and my daughter enjoys going there.

Posted: December 21, 2016

Excelent,teachers and admistrative. My daugther i like

Posted: July 8, 2016

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Posted: July 8, 2016

Posted: March 7, 2016

My son loves this school. He looks forward to school every single day and he has learned so much. He's an excellent student. His kindergarten teacher Ms.Rinehart is superb!!!

Posted: November 18, 2015

Posted: November 18, 2015

Posted: November 18, 2015

Posted: November 18, 2015

Duckett's Lane is a wonderful school. My son has been there for 2 years and every teacher has been top quality! Very happy with the school!

Posted: June 18, 2015

Our daughters have been going to Ducketts Lane for two years and love it. The teachers have went above and beyond! From Pre K-2nd grade has been a wonderful experience. My daughter that went through 2yrs of Pre K head start due to speech delay had Miss Shelby and Mrs Ann. My older daughter in first grade had Mrs Sanderson, Miss Choe and in second grade has Mrs Sillers and Miss Abelman. All of these teachers are always professional and very friendly. I sat in their classes on a couple of occassions and was very impressed with how kids are taught now of days. They make education fun and exciting! Also, the school has many after school and weekend events for the students and community. I have always felt comfortable with my kids going to school at Ducketts Lane Elementary. I know they are in good hands!

Posted: June 18, 2015

I know it seems like a lot as working parents. But, I know they have to have work inside and outside of school.

Posted: June 18, 2015

Our daughters have been going to Ducketts Lane for two years and love it. The teachers have went above and beyond! From Pre K-2nd grade has been a wonderful experience. My daughter that went through 2yrs of Pre K head start due to speech delay had Miss Shelby and Mrs Ann. My older daughter in first grade had Mrs Sanderson, Miss Choe and in second grade has Mrs Sillers and Miss Abelman. All of these teachers are always professional and very friendly. I sat in their classes on a couple of occassions and was very impressed with how kids are taught now of days. They make education fun and exciting! Also, the school has many after school and weekend events for the students and community. I have always felt comfortable with my kids going to school at Ducketts Lane Elementary. I know they are in good hands!

Posted: June 18, 2015

Our daughters have been going to Ducketts Lane for two years and love it. The teachers have went above and beyond! From Pre K-2nd grade has been a wonderful experience. My daughter that went through 2yrs of Pre K head start due to speech delay had Miss Shelby and Mrs Ann. My older daughter in first grade had Mrs Sanderson, Miss Choe and in second grade has Mrs Sillers and Miss Abelman. All of these teachers are always professional and very friendly. I sat in their classes on a couple of occassions and was very impressed with how kids are taught now of days. They make education fun and exciting! Also, the school has many after school and weekend events for the students and community. I have always felt comfortable with my kids going to school at Ducketts Lane Elementary. I know they are in good hands!

Posted: November 30, 2014

DLES is an amazing school full of amazing teachers and administrators. My daughter is thriving and loves it there.

Posted: November 4, 2014

The school is new and there's parental involvement. However, my son's homeroom teacher is not excellent in replying to email or communication that we send while the other teacher who is the reading teacher is prompt with communicating with us.

Posted: July 15, 2014

Ducketts Lane is a brand new elementary school in Howard County. The school building and its facilities are state of the art. The teachers are invested in their students and the administration is very hands-on. The PTA, although only operating in its first year, has active leadership and sponsored several events at the school.

Posted: June 12, 2014

This school has been great. The teachers are great and the school does many activities to keep the community involved with the school They really did a great job of building this new school makes its a great environment to learn in.

Posted: April 28, 2014

We are so thrilled for our children to be attending this fantastic new school. Their focus on top-rate education and developing active thinkers and learners is second to none. We were looking to move to a different part of the county, however we have unanimously decided that it's not possible until after elementary because we won't find what Ducketts Lane has to offer anywhere else in Maryland (let alone Howard County, which has remarkable schools but none that will compare to this experience).

Posted: April 26, 2014

Wonderful teachers, staff, very clean - very certain test scores will align with parent scores thusfar

Posted: March 10, 2014

This is a brand new school. The first Gold LEED compliant school in the district. It looks beautiful with skylights, atriums, outdoor activity and teaching, areas, gardens and plenty of natural light everywhere. My impression of staff and teachers is that district selected a top principal who hand-picked the best teachers and administrators who applied to work there. I see the principal and vice principal are very active at school - I always see them around. They are highly visible and accessible. They have strong spanish language program that consists of daily immersion sessions. They also have a strong GT/STEAM program, and an excellent after-care program. As a brand new school they have no test scores available yet. So I can only judge them by my childrens' progress and feedback, which have both been excellent thus far. We were redistricted from another nearby school that we also loved. At first we were disappointed to be leaving the old school but now we are extremely pleased to be part of Ducketts Lanes Elementary. With kids and parents transferring in from multiple schools it was a challenge to get parent involvement at first. Now it is going very strongly.