T.M. Landry Prep School Engaged in Abuse and Fraud

[sanantone]

T.M. Landry College Prep is a private school in Louisiana known for its viral videos of black students from working class families getting accepted to prestigious colleges. The school had an unconventional approach: classes in a warehouse and no certified teachers. 

It is now being revealed that the Landrys falsified transcripts with high grades and classes the students never took. The school is also being accused of physically abusing the children. Because the kids were teaching each other, some of the students ended up grades behind. According to what I heard on NPR, some of the former students have done fine at their universities, but some of them are failing. One girl was made to believe that she was a math wiz, but she said that her college math courses seem to be in a foreign language. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRewodHw-8E

[davewill]

GRRRRRrrrr!!!!      

[bjcheung77]

Wow, that's sad. I feel for the families of those students as well...
How the heck did they get un-noticed for "not teaching" any students?
I mean, they were teaching each other without qualified instructors.
Gonna watch another youtube video in regards to this... BRB...

[Carnation]

Wow, that's sad.  I feel for the families of those students as well...
How the heck did they get un-noticed for "not teaching" any students?  
I mean, they were teaching each other without qualified instructors.  

My husband went to an independent study high school where you taught yourself out of textbooks and if you struggled to understand something there were adults to help you find the right resource that worked for you if the original textbook didn't. No official teachers. My husband called it homeschooling but at a location that all the students went to during the day and where they took their tests. He said it prepared him for college because he already knew how to teach himself or find resources to help him learn material. It was very easy for us to choose homeschooling because we realized that we didn't need to know all the answers to give our kids a good education. 
Note: the school my husband went to they were not all aiming for Ivy League schools nor was there any punishment (except staying on Friday until your schoolwork for the week was completed).

[cookderosa]

I'd never heard of this (corrected) school. Their stats page shows that since 2013 only 50 kids have graduated, and have had exceptional ACT scores and college admission.

I watched the video - but it's hard to think this one 16 year old girl is representing of the entire program. I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm saying one person can derail a good thing.


http://www.tmlandrycollegeprep.org/Progr...Landry.pdf

[jsd]

I'd never heard of this college.  Their stats page shows that since 2013 only 50 kids have graduated, and have had exceptional ACT scores and college admission.

I watched the video - but it's hard to think this one 16 year old girl is representing of the entire program.  I'm not saying it isn't possible, I'm saying one person can derail a good thing.


http://www.tmlandrycollegeprep.org/Progr...Landry.pdf

Well it's not a college, and the reports coming out talked to a number of families and former students.

---

The video and reports I saw addressed both their high college admission rates (falsified transcripts, admission essays written by school personnel instead of students based on made up student backgrounds) as well as the high ACT scores (the school did daily ACT practice tests and only taught ACT-specific topics at the expense of anything else, leaving students unprepared for normal college learning as students weren't even at high school level).

[Carnation]

At my husband's independent high school, each student signed a contract between the parent and student declaring how much work and what specific subjects would be covered each year.
So a textbook had x amount of chapters and they would cover y amount of work each week to complete the subject in a certain time frame - one semester or full year of school.
Then the student was held accountable for completing the amount of work the student and parents agreed to.
So it really was like homeschooling, just someone other than the parent was holding the students accountable for completing the work.

Sounds like this Landry school the parents were not as much in the equation.

[jsd]

Sounds like this Landry school the parents were not as much in the equation.

One of the articles I read said the school "discouraged parent involvement." Go figure.

[sanantone]

This school charges $575-725 monthly plus a $525 registration fee just to sit your kids in a warehouse. They're really taking advantage of working class people who just want better for their kids.

[cookderosa]

Sorry, I'm still not buying it. You can't score next to perfect ACT scores and tell me that the kid isn't on grade level. EVEN with false transcripts, the proof is in the pudding. What we REALLY have to look at is the record of the kids ATTENDING COLLEGE. That's the truth.

Also, honestly Sanantone, where one learns has nothing to do with anything. Warehouse, log cabin, or in little rows like sheep. Makes no difference.