Hi, everyone. Greetings from Portland, Oregon. Angelajean asked several weeks ago if I would write about our experience with our son’s charter school and I told her I’d be happy to - but first - a little background:
My husband and I are both public school graduates. We completely support the public school system. It needs a tremendous amount of repair, at this point, but we believe that an exceptional public education is - and should remain - a right afforded to the children and youth of this country. Sadly, we left the public school system because Portland Public Schools failed to support us.
When KidCJB was in the 1st grade, the school district published a list of schools that were on the long list of those schools being considered for closure due to district-wide funding problems. We loved our little school. We adored his teacher. But, our son’s school was on the list, as was the elementary school on the other side of us. Surely when the short list came out, they wouldn’t close both of them.
Unbelievably, they did just that. Now, there is another diary for another time and, perhaps, in a different diary series about the fact that, from a list of schools that encompassed the entire city of Portland, the only place where they closed both of the elementary schools in a small area happens to be a neighborhood made up, to a great extent, of people of color.
Yeah. I went there. Institutionalized racism is alive in Portland, Oregon. This is not the only example I could give.
The district magnanimously offered to bus our then 7-year-old the 2+ miles to an elementary school that has, for many years, had one of the lowest scores in the district. He would have gone from a great little 20-kids-per-classroom school with a population of maybe 150, to an increasingly over-stressed faculty and building with a population of nearly 450. We said, “No, thank you,” and began exploring our options.
Fortunately for us, some adventurous friends from KidCJB's gradeschool had made the change to a charter school the year before. And that is where our sad tale of woe does a one-eighty.
Meet The Emerson School:
The Emerson School is located at 105 NW Park Avenue in downtown Portland. The school curriculum is based on The Project Approach. If you are unfamiliar, I would encourage you to explore the link a bit. Under the tab “Project Approach” on the left side of the page, it says
The Project Approach refers to a set of teaching strategies that enable teachers to guide students through in-depth studies of real-world topics. Projects have a complex but flexible framework within which teaching and learning are seen as interactive processes. When teachers implement the Approach successfully, students feel highly motivated and actively involved in their own learning, leading them to produce high-quality work and to grow as individuals and collaborators.
This is absolutely and demonstrably true. While our son was at Emerson, he not only was an engaged and enthusiastic learner, he became an energetic, positive, outgoing leader. He didn’t just succeed, he totally excelled in the open, flexible and experiential environment at Emerson.
Here is the Greatschools link for Emerson. They get a fantastic 9 out of 10 rating. It's interesting to read the reviews. There are a couple of negative ones. A telling one states, "Very disorganized with no classroom control. Lots of great ideas but without classroom control it is impossible to implement." I can completely understand this statement. This is a parent whose expectations were those of someone unprepared to look beneath what can certainly appear to be chaos. As you homeschoolers and alt-folks know, hands-on, student-driven, experiential learning can be off-putting to those used to both the stricture and structure of many public school classrooms. One parent's "lack of classroom control" is another parent's joyful, exuberant laboratory.
Anyway, for those who are unfamiliar, let me give you an example of the Project Approach. One term in 4th grade, the kids chose “chocolate” as their topic for the term’s project. Yes, the kids make a list of topics and then vote for their own subject of study for the coming term. And, what a great term it was. The history of chocolate, ancient and modern. The geography of chocolate. Agriculture and transportation and distribution. Chemistry and mathematics and art. Measuring and cooking and, of course, the best part - tasting!
The kids learned the chemical compound of chocolate. They made three-dimensional chocolate molecules. They had a specialist come in to talk about the economics involved in the chocolate trade. What kind of labor is involved in harvesting chocolate? Who does it? What is “fair trade?”
They traveled to several local chocolatiers and learned how chocolate is processed. They watched chocolates being made. Milk and dark and white. The chemistry involved in tempering. What’s the melting temperature of chocolate? How and why does it solidify?
And, as with every project, at the end of the term, the class held an open house for the larger school community. These events were always packed. And the kids would just shine. All of their wonderful projects and exhibits on display. Games that the attendees could play informing them about the subject. Kids manning their stations and excitedly explaining their knowledge. 4th grade! Was your 4th grade like that? I can tell you that I had a very different experience at Templeview Elementary School in Idaho Falls, Idaho in the late 70s.
And chocolate is just one example. Every term was special.
Another wonderful thing about Emerson was the amount of work that went into documenting our son's growth. And, not just academically. Part of each conference was student-driven and our son was given the chance to showcase his school experience. Then, we would sit down with the teacher and go over incredibly detailed reports, not only about each of his academic subjects, but about his leadership abilities, his organizational skills, his social interaction with his peers. We always felt that we knew absolutely just how he was doing in every aspect of his life at school. Of course, that was because of the teachers. Dedicated. Involved. Kind. Patient. Encouraging. Funny. Organized. Happy. And loving. I never doubted for one moment that every one of KidCJB’s teachers cared deeply about his success for his sake.
After four years of celebrating education with that great little community, it was so hard to say goodbye. The Emerson School and its staff were there for us during a very unsettling time when we were forced into the search for an academic home. They welcomed us and provided such a terrific place for our family to grow and learn.
You know, when it comes to kid-related decisions, sometimes you just close your eyes tightly and hope you’ve done the right thing. The Emerson School wasn’t just a good choice for our child, but for our family. To this day, Emerson is one of the best decisions we’ve had the opportunity to make for our child.
He’s 15 now, and beginning to make his own choices. I’m so glad that the lessons of The Emerson School are with him, to help him on his way. Next year, he'll be a sophomore at The Metropolitan Learning Center, a great, funky, diverse alternative public K-12 in downtown Portland. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime. ;-)
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