Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Regions Portland, Oregon Area resources, schools?

We are looking at different areas around Portland to potentially move to. Does anyone have an idea if there are groups or school for gifted children? Elementary?
Thank you

In general terms, gifted education in Oregon is an unfunded mandate. They are obliged under state law to identify such children and offer them appropriate differentiation, but-- the devil is in the details, as is probably obvious to anyone reading. Let's just say that I've been severely underwhelmed by every example of such "appropriate differentation" that I've seen or heard about from another person with first-hand knowledge over the past ten years or so.

There are some extremely fine private schools in the Portland Metro area-- Catlin-Gabel comes to mind immediately. There is also an IB magnet school out in the western 'burbs. Lake Oswego has the best reputation (mostly) and Gresham-Barlow among the worst.

As usual, though-- it boils down to a more granular look at individual schools and even further, to individual classroom practices. The state has also got both K12 and Connections as virtual schooling options if you go that route to credentialing, and dual enrollment practices are robust during the high school years-- and that is true at almost any high school in the entire state.

PDX schools will be partnered up with PCC or MHCC for dual enrollment credits. They transfer seamlessly to any public uni within the state, by the way. I know several students who earned a year or more of college credits that way while in high school-- and while rates vary somewhat, it is a BARGAIN. We paid just $25 for fifteen quarter credits during DD's last year in high school. Yes, $25. Not a typo.

What HK said.

ACCESS is an option, but it only goes through 8th and there's a waiting list. It's in the NE area of town. We don't have direct experience. There's not a high school option (they say there is, but there's not).

Winterhaven is a math and science magnet that accelerates in these subjects. They could be a good option depending on LOG. They are a lottery school, but have a high proportion of identified TAG kids. We have experience here and it's a good school, but not so great if you have a verbally gifted kid. They do about as good a job of differentiation as you'd expect for a class with 35 4th graders.

Metropolitan Learning Center is a very cool K-12 magnet in close-in NW. It's interesting in that it's not a lottery school and you have to apply, but it's public. They are super flexible and seem to skew more 'quirky and creative'. We ended up on the waiting list there when DD was trying for K.

Catlin-Gabel and Oregon Episcopal are both highly regarded, but again not specifically for gifted kids. I know kids who go there and they are getting a world class education (and for the cost, well I wouldn't expect less). But they seem to skew more toward bright and motivated kids rather than highly gifted. They do have need-based scholarships available.

Village Home Learning Center in Beaverton is a homeschool school (brick and mortar classes with teachers but you are a homeschooler). Very different model, but can be a good fit because they are very flexible in terms of age ranges for classes. Not good if there can't be a parent available on a very flexible schedule, especially for younger kids. We have direct and positive experience with this school and it's very affordable. However it's pretty unstructured and you don't benefit from the accreditation. It's also just very different and not every family is going to be able to be that much out of the box.

Another virtual option is Baker Web. I really like this among the online-only options for their creativity and support. We gave it a shot, but found that DD is just too social to not have a classroom. Still a very worthwhile school to look at if you have more of an introvert and someone who can be home.

DD is starting at Pacific Crest Community School (NE) in the fall. They are private and nonsecular, but about half the cost of the big private schools (so only scary, not completely terrifying). They are super flexible and again seem to skew to gifted and quirky/creative rather than high achieving. But they are fully accredited and send their kids to all kinds of universities.

When DD turns 13, we may look at a PCC class. There are a lot of hoops, but it's doable and her new school is the kind of place that would support that kind of dual enrollment.

There are also parochial schools of various types, some of which have great reputations (some of the Catholic ones in particular). Tuition is better, but obviously you have to be comfortable with the religious aspects. We don't have any experience here.

If you can stay out of Portland Public, you may benefit. Lake Oswego has a great reputation (they actually charge tuition for non-district attendees, but it's hard to get in I think). Riverdale is another tiny district in SW. And Beaverton has some really high performing high schools (including an IB school, which may be what HK was mentioning) as well as a program for highly gifted middle schoolers called SUMMA. DD's BFF is attending SUMMA and she's getting a pretty great education. But it's not something you can access unless you live in the district.

Of course you do pay for these schools, it's just in the cost of your house or apartment instead of tuition. Beaverton has the most reasonable housing.

In a nutshell, they don't spend money on gifted education in Oregon and they don't make it easy to research or find good options. Portland Public has some issues, including some rotten options for highschool and a new push to limit in-district transfers (which they are doing for good reasons, but which will only hurt gifted kids in certain schools).

I hope this information is helpful.

Not the best overall picture here in Portland, but there are some options for good schools.

For middle-schoolers, there's the Summa program in suburban Beaverton, which is housed in four different Beaverton middle schools. All eligible students are accepted. It used to be that students had to score in the 99th percentile in reading and in math (or quantitative and verbal, etc.) but now it's 99th percentile in one and 97th in another. Last I heard, the program uses the cogAT and ITBS as determiners. IF the student scores in the 99th percentile overall on the cogAT, he/she is in; if not, then the student can take the ITBS and score in the 99th percentile in either math or reading and then 97th percentile in the other.

As mentioned, there are multiple good private schools in the area, headed by OES and Catlin Gabel; my child attends Oregon Episcopal School and the school has a terrific educational program but perhaps not one that's necessarily for highly gifted learners. We ourselves chose between Catlin, OES, and Summa and picked OES since the Summa program ends after the 8th grade and we didn't want to go through the admissions process again and because OES is more structured than Catlin's program and is probably a better fit for our child's needs.

In addition, several schools in the Bethany area educate the children of the many Intel Ph.D.s living here and as one would expect, there is a higher than expected number of highly gifted learners in that population. The Bethany schools operate much like private schools in their overall level of education and in the overall number of children who will be similar to your own child. The students in these schools test very highly on state standardized tests.

Lastly, there's the International school of Beaverton (ISB) as a middle school and high school option as well as the School for Science and Technology and the Art and Communication magnet school. Other private high school options are Jesuit High School, the Northwest Academy, St. Mary's Academy (all girls), and Valley Catholic school.

I really wish the Summa program could extend from 6th to 12th but that's not really the case and as others have mentioned, Portland isn't a go-to place as far as instruction for gifted students is concerned.

I'm curious how the Vancouver schools stack up against the Portland ones. WA state both mandates and funds gifted education. I'm unfamiliar with the actual programs though down there.

There is certainly no exodus of people from one side of the river to the other-- and while that isn't direct evidence that the situation isn't better-- it is probably indirect evidence that this is so. The cost of living is certainly lower in Vancouver, and yet relatively few families have moved there from Portland with their school-aged children.

My spouse works for a high tech company with a site over the river, and "good schools" or "good for families" isn't a really big selling point for that particular site-- which tells me that they probably are NOT that good. Does that help? We were cautioned about the schooling situation in Vancouver back a decade ago, at least-- and while much can change in that time, we certainly haven't heard anything that indicates that it has.

Of course, that may say nothing at all about gifted education in broad terms, even, and certainly not much about what it might signify to children in the HG+ range.

In the PNW, the Seattle/Everett area is the ONLY one that I hear good things about with respect to gifted education options. I know several people in that region who have DYS-level kids who have been quite pleased with the schooling options. The full K-college spectrum exists there for them-- which is rare anywhere, but simply does not exist anywhere else in the region.