Los Cerritos Middle School

Disappointing - school seems not well organized and care more about how good 'we look' on tests than on actual learning. Grading is terrible - as long as you show for a class you are guaranteed C even though your kid has NO CLUE or good understanding of the subject. Absolutely ridiculous! Homework is pretty much just 'thrown' at kids after quick lesson and 'group' activities -- we are talking about 6th graders and teachers expect them to work in groups and solve problems to the just introduced topics? I see a lot of parents quietly re-teaching their kids at home - which makes me wonder what do teacher do in class all day?

My daughter started 6th grade this year. She absolutely loves all her teachers and seems to be learning a lot. I've e-mailed a few teachers during the year and they have all gotten back to me within 24 hours. The front office staff is always nice (I had heard they weren't always) and the Prinicipal is easy to approach. I look forward to seeing how my daugher does on her state testing this year.

LCMS is a rare school where high academic expectations are balanced with other opportunities. LCMS doesn't so much push students, but rather it offers opportunities which inspire learning, and enhance leadership, character and performance skills. Test scores are not the goal but you wouldn't know it from the results. For example, my student had a project that required a report. Her group inquired about making the report into a video. Mrs. M consented, Mrs. P sponsored the group, Mr. K gave up his lunch hour to supervise the production. All this in a one day turnaround. This is just one small example of the extraordinary efforts by staff at LCMS to empower students. The music programs demonstrate that engaging leadership can work magic. Mrs. H's musical had over 200 performers, who performed with precision and poise. The 4 choirs each recently won the highest ratings. She makes incredible personal sacrifices to bring success to 1/4 of students in the school. Mrs. B works wonders with her orchestras and gets standing ovations from students. Her students give incredibly nuanced and professional performances. Even average students become passionate performers.

I will be happy when my student leaves the campus! We have had bad teachers, bad administrators, and an overall negative 3 years. On all accounts, the staff has their "favorite" students and then the students they tolerate. If your student is not a "favorite" you will be in for a rough ride. The discipline procedures are not applied equally amoung students. It is also important to note that students called to the office for discipline reasons do NOT get to have a parent present. Parents are informed AFTER the meeting has taken place and sometimes not at all.