About Lapham

Lapham Elementary School is located on Madison's Isthmus. The attendance area is bordered by the State Capitol to the west, First Street to the east and lakes Mendota and Monona to the north and south. A K-2 school, it is paired with Marquette Elementary, which serves grades 3-5.

Our school was named for Increase Lampham, Wisconsin's first, great naturalist. Our population includes most of the ethnic groups represented in the city of Madison as well as a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Parent involvement is evident all over the school. Parents volunteer in classrooms and other areas of the school, they chaperone field trips, they faithfully attend special programs and they are active in the paired schools' Parent -Teacher Group.

The staffs at Lapham/Marquette have high expectations of all students. This is evidenced by consistently high scores and no racial difference on the State's third grade reading test and fourth grade achievement test. To achieve such results Lapham has, in addition to the District's officially sanctioned "balanced literacy" approach, been able to provide a systematic, phonologically based approach to reading instruction. This approach has been proven effective for students who don't come to reading effortlessly.

Lapham School is fortunate to be Madison's only elementary school with a swimming pool. When the school was built it was designated the District's special education site and a therapeutic pool was included. Today it is used for swimming lessons for the school's students as well as occasional sessions for students from other schools. After school hours the pool is made available to Madison School Community Recreation (MSCR) for community use.

Lapham students also enjoy special opportunities in the performing arts through a choir and drama program in second grade. Those who wish may participate in one drama performance each semester as well as several choir concerts. The performances take place in the school's auditorium. 

In an attempt to further our cooperation and continue to improve our students' achievement, Lapham/Marquette are jointly participating in a five year "School Improvement Process", currently in its fourth year. We are focusing our efforts through this process on reading, math and behavior.

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