Cora Kelly School for Math Science and Technology

Posted: March 26, 2023

My child looks forward to school every day. I am very pleased with learning progress in Kindergarten. My child went from not knowing how to read and write to reading on her own. Communications and processes are straightforward. Overall, it’s great!

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: March 26, 2023

Posted: November 27, 2021

It’s the worst school ever. Just show off on social media. There isn’t any respect and Kindness to students!

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: November 27, 2021

Posted: May 10, 2020

Posted: May 10, 2020

Posted: May 10, 2020

Posted: May 10, 2020

Posted: May 10, 2020

Posted: May 10, 2020

Posted: May 10, 2020

My son has gone to school here since Kindergarten. He is now in 3rd grade. The teachers are incredible, hardworking and loving; everything is student centered and all decisions are based on what is best for children. From the moment you walk in the door, there is a sense of family because the staff makes the students feel so loved. The principal; Jasabi Crews and vice principal: Lauren Holthaus truly lead by example. They literally know every student by name and make a point to establish loving relationships with all the kids. They are hard working and want what's best for kids always. Their dedication to the students and their staff is admirable. I am so lucky that my son has had the opportunity to go to this school.:)

Posted: December 1, 2019

Posted: December 1, 2019

Posted: December 1, 2019

This school does not teach their children to take responsibility.

Posted: December 1, 2019

Posted: December 1, 2019

Posted: December 1, 2019

Posted: December 1, 2019

This school has terrible overall test scores for students. Do not send your child here. My child's grades suffered the entire time there. My child regressed academically from where they were when they first entered. The staff does not work with parents. The staff actually confused my child with another child when I called the front office. They made an incorrect assumption that my child was in the court system and mentioned that on the phone. They sent out information about my child erroneously. Entire staff is very unprofessional and do not care about truly helping your child. They will quickly move the child on to whatever's next so that they don't have to "deal" with them anymore. Do NOT send your children here.

Posted: August 21, 2019

I don't have much direct experience but what I have seen is a comprehensive emphasis on good citizenship, including respect for others.

Posted: August 21, 2019

We are starting our third year at CK, with two kids in the school, and we have had nothing but positive experiences. One particular strength of the teaching is willingness and ability to differentiate teaching approach for individual students' needs.

Posted: August 21, 2019

The "homework" that my kids have been assigned in the early grades has consisted almost entirely of reading for enjoyment and practice at home, laying a strong foundation for good literacy without turning reading into a chore.

Posted: August 21, 2019

I have been so impressed with the teachers we have known at Cora Kelly, and I brag on them regularly. They are dedicated and creative, willing and able to meet students where they are and to address individual students' needs.

Posted: August 21, 2019

There is a comprehensive and effective positive reinforcement behavior management system in place that prioritizes character and rewards students and classes for demonstrating or working on good character.

Posted: August 21, 2019

The current principal is in her third year here, working with a number of challenges. She is creative, resourceful, dedicated, and tireless in her efforts to address our school's challenges in ways that put the students' needs first.

Posted: August 21, 2019

Both teachers and administration are open to adapting for individual student needs and hearing concerns. Differentiation (teaching different students differently) is a particularly strong suit.

Posted: June 11, 2019

I'm not a big proponent of homework so I approve that in kindergarten it is not given except for a few option assignments during breaks or special occasions. We'll see in future years.

Posted: June 11, 2019

I have been very impressed with both the kindergarten team and the specialists as they go above and beyond to differentiate instruction and make connections across the curriculum.

Posted: June 11, 2019

One of the units was on on community helpers and my son was very into the idea of how we all can be a positive part of our neighborhood. One of the tasks in class is paired reading where kids help each other learn which I've found has increased his sensitivity to others.

Posted: June 11, 2019

The administrators are new and come with a lot of energy and a desire to build up. They are working to connect with families and improve programming for students.

Posted: June 11, 2019

I don't know a lot of students with special needs at this point so I'm not aware of the steps for handling them.

Posted: June 11, 2019

There is 0 to low tolerance as I've seen in school. Students are encouraged to treat each other with respect and with the higher teacher to student ratio there is more monitoring.

Posted: June 11, 2019

I taught at a similar school for 10 years, so I'm familiar with the challenges and some of the ways you can face them. The administration and staff are doing a lot of these things right and where there are struggles they are looking to improve. We could afford a private school, but he gets a lot of resources and diversity at Cora Kelly that I don't think other schools could offer. They've ramped up the focus on technology and so I happened to observe a class where he and another student were working on sequencing and reading in a single exercise. He had basic letter recognition when starting Kindergarten and now reads at a 1st grade level. If you are willing to get involved and encourage your student there are opportunities to be had. The staff has been very communicative and I'm looking forward to next year. There are schools with more parent involvement, but I think that's something the school wants to improve and they have been very welcoming to me as a first year parent.

Posted: November 9, 2018

Posted: November 9, 2018

Faculty and staff are dedicated and try very hard, current leadership is very good.

Posted: November 9, 2018

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Posted: November 9, 2018

Posted: July 28, 2016

i think the young teachers at this school work hard, but the environment they are in is sick. the school system ignores their cries for help. the principal and assistant principal are control freaks.

Posted: July 28, 2016

what homework? worksheets only -- and below the level of the student's ability for the most part.

Posted: July 28, 2016

neutral on this because i don't think these values are modeled by the staff -- principal has questionable practices relating to SOL score manipulation.

Posted: July 28, 2016

My kids were basically warehoused because they could read, listen and be quiet -- they did not need intervention of any kind, so were shunted to worksheets and "allowed" to read when their work was done. We thought this was great at first, until we realized our kids were not learning. Or rather, they were not being taught anything that they could not learn on their own. One was sent to help with the kindergarteners as the school did SOL prep for weeks on end. We discovered that the other was ill-prepared for middle school when he couldn't put a paragraph together for a book report. And this after great reviews at CK.

Posted: July 11, 2016

Posted: July 11, 2016

homework was not worth much -- doing sentences in the word study book mostly. or worksheets to color.

Posted: July 11, 2016

i think there is so much focus on testing that the civics, ethics, morals you learn in a typical school just get short shrift here. and there is no fairness -- kids are pulled from the rare lights of music, band, science for remediation on testing.

Posted: May 7, 2016

We love Cora Kelly! Our child is having an excellent Kindergarten year--came in barely knowing letters and is reading at a second grade level. The teachers are incredibly committed and talented. The school is the little engine that could--overcoming HUGE obstacles of poverty and language barriers like no other school in the district. Principal cares DEEPLY about EACH student and is doing amazing things. We are so happy to be a part of this great community.

Posted: January 12, 2016

Posted: January 12, 2016

Posted: January 12, 2016

Posted: January 12, 2016

New to Northern VA. We do not like Cora Kelly. Our child is zoned for this school which is why he attends. I will be researching other schools in the Alexandria City area and start the transfer process.

Posted: September 23, 2014

I agree with last poster. Zero stars would be preferred option. Lovely group of teachers, but many suffer from PTSD due to principal's keep-you-on-edge style of leadership. No creativity on part of administration. Scores are dropping -- they only made AYP this year in English bec of the 3-year average. NO STEM -- why call it a Science/Math anything?

Posted: September 7, 2014

I wish I could give this school 0 stars. I have no idea why they call this a magnet school, or even STEM school. This will be my son's second year and I am going to have him transferred somewhere else ASAP. He is not zoned for this school, but I chose it because he's coming from a college prep school in dc. STAY AWAY if you care about education. Last year in second grade he came home with repeating patterns work sheets and other "Baby" like work. Such as complete this pattern... aabbaabbaa.... (but with shapes). This year (3rd grade) and yes it's only the start of the second week, he's getting "Count to 100 by 1s" worksheets. He can NEVER tell me what he learned because "everyone was talking so we didn't get to learn much". I have never seen the STEM. They need to drop that from the name. A friend of mine who works with schools says the administration is a joke there and I concur. The teachers seem like they care, and I thought his teacher last year was very energetic and responsive. Unfortunately that's all the positive I could muster. On everything I love, stay away.

Posted: August 11, 2014

squeaky wheels? ha, what a joke. there are not enough parents who can squeak loud enough, and the superintendent/school board aren't listening either. a principal with no communication skills, all about testing, testing, testing. no school community, prison sentence for new teachers -- first-year teachers beware, you will get used and abused! we moved our child. couldn't take it any more.

Posted: February 23, 2014

This school has excellent teachers and excellent test scores. I have noticed that are a few squeaky wheel parents who post on here, but all the parents I know are very happy with the school. I do not know the principal well but the few times I needed his help he was very responsive. My child knows him and says the kids think he is great.

Posted: February 7, 2014

Cora Kelly is one of the best elementary schools in Northern Virginia. The teachers are very dedicated and care about every student. The administration and support staff are dedicated to the mission of the school. When visiting the school it is clear the children are happy and learning. The principal has been there longer than most of the other elementary principals in ACPS and given his record of excellence it is clear he truly cares about the learning of all students.

Posted: November 30, 2013

Cora Kelly is not the school it was just a few years ago.I agree that the current administration's sole focus on math and reading test scores has effectively striped CK of all STEM and extra curricular activity. Community involvement in the school has been killed by the administration of the school. Not very long ago CK was a vibrant and high achieving STEM school that attracted bright kids from all corners of the city. Today it does a decent job teaching the how to read and pass the math SOLs but sadly little else. We have become so dissapointed in the direction of the school administration that we have removed my last child from the school. I hope that ACPS will soon see that what was a gem in the system has been gutted to a factory or regugitation.

Posted: October 14, 2013

The teachers appear motivated and committed but much work needs to be done. Significant behavior problems and the adminsitration appears laxed in addressing the issues. I would not recommend this school.

Posted: January 27, 2013

My two children go to Cora Kelly and we are satisfied with the school. We feel that we have to work a lot with the kids ourselves to make sure that our kids are on top of the program. But we find the teachers approachable and understanding and willing to go extra mile.