Elementary Schools in Portland

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/

There is extensive info on all the Portland Public Schools, including magnet programs. They have links to the public charter schools (public (free) alternative-model schools).

It looks overwhelming, but if you start with a search for your neighborhood school (enter your address, it should tell you), you can see if your work will be easy (you like that school) or if you will need to put in the time to research and apply to others.

I thought interesting the Chinese/English immersion school in SE, the Creative Science school (also in SE last I checked), and several of the charters (there are only 7 charters right now, so they are pretty quick to get through).

Picking up Portland Parent magazine (free around town) or buying the Portland Monthly schools issue (I think it comes out in the spring) can expose you to a bunch of private-school ads very quickly. And of course, there's always the good ol' yellow pages, which can tell you what search terms to use in Google to find local private-school websites.

We had a child at a parochial school for one year (this showed me how much I disagree with standard academic schooling, no matter how lovingly pedagog'ed), and a child at Cedarwood School for one year (this was expensive but utterly vital for that child; Waldorf education is the most truly developmentally appropriate curriculum I have run into).

We were blessed to get into, and are happy to be at, Portland Village School, a Waldorf-methods public charter now in its second year.

I do have to say about charters, though, that they come up for renewal every three years, and that built-in uncertainty is a bit stressful. On the other hand, it's not like the public schools haven't been reorganizing about every three years, too ...

Anyhow, hope some of that helps. It seems like a big process, but once you start reading, a lot of options will drop away and that makes it easier.

Hi K.,
Hopefully you're getting some good advice. I don't know anything about Portland Public Schools because we are in Gladstone. But either way, I would suggest going to www.portlandmonthly.com and looking for the back-issue from last spring or early summer that was all about Portland schools. Obviously this won't tell you everything you need to know, but it would be a good starting point. Good Luck in the school hunt, and GOOD LUCK with your stepson!!

Here is the Portland Public Schools report card http://www.ode.state.or.us/data/reportcard/reports.aspx
as you scroll down it lists all the schools and the fourth column over is the school's rating. If you are willing to drive he can go to anyone of those schools with the lottery system, however getting to school on time is hard enough so hopefully the neighborhood school has a strong or exceptional rating.

Portland has a lottery system whereby you can lottery into another school in the district that isn't your neighborhood school. This process only happens once a year just around Feb I believe and so if your stepson were to come and live with you during this coming academic year, he would most likely be in your neighborhood school unless you went private. For the following year, you could then try the lottery if there was a specific focus option school you were interested in. One of my children goes to Buckman School in SE which is an arts focus option school. My other child goes to Sunnyside Environmental School which focuses on environmental science/awareness/service. These magnet schools all have PPS curriculum requirements but then have additional offerings in these focus areas. We Portlanders are fortunate to have so many options, I'm sure you'll find the right fit for your stepson.

Here is a great site that might help: http://www.greatschools.net/

Good Luck!!!