Community Support Empowers Portland Schools
Published Mar 05, 2007
At Franklin High School in Portland, nearly 80 percent of faculty members have master’s degrees or higher.
Citizens in the Portland region care about their public schools. That was made apparent again in 2006 when voters approved additional funding for K-12 education on both sides of the Columbia River: Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro in Oregon and Vancouver in Washington.
The election results were additional evidence that residents view their schools as some of the region’s most valuable assets.
Buoyed by the support at the polls, the schools are focusing on student achievement in literacy and math, implementing new programs, and preparing for growth.
INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS
In Vancouver, the school district has developed a Web-based application called the Learner Profile. According to Superintendent John Erickson, it “enables the collection, display and reporting of data and information about each student’s performance and progress in literacy and math.”
High school math teachers in Portland are using a new math curriculum that involves new textbooks and innovative teaching strategies.
More broadly, Portland Public Schools tackled wide-ranging education reforms: raising graduation requirements, targeting help for struggling high school students, expanding kindergarten to a full school day, creating K-8 schools, implementing a core curriculum framework, and improving professional development for principals and teachers.
There were organizational and operational reforms, too, such as a redesigned Central Office to focus on student learning, school building closures in response to declining enrollment, streamlined transportation routes, and tighter contracting and purchasing procedures.
In the Beaverton School District, two new magnet programs will debut in fall 2007: a medical magnet built in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, Oregon Health & Science University and Providence Health System; and a science academy.
As one of the fastest-growing school districts in Oregon, Beaverton faces capacity issues. Adding about 700-800 new students per year, the district must arrange sufficient space for the ever-expanding enrollment. “We plan to add two new elementary schools in 2008-09,” says spokesperson Maureen Wheeler. “We’re also developing our high school programs further and added literacy coaches for K-12.”
KEY TO SUCCESSES
There are additional indications that the region’s school districts are thriving. For example, the Vancouver School District boasts a 90 percent teacher retention rate. Gresham-Barlow was awarded the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Partner of the Year award. And Portland Public Schools have cut the dropout rate by 45 percent since the peak in 1999.
Community support is a key ingredient in the schools’ successes – not just from parents and the electorate, but also from local businesses.
“The business community can vocally support education, they can partner with school districts, they can serve on an advisory board that needs their intellect, experience and voice,” Wheeler says. “Or they can donate directly to the schools.”
Vancouver’s Erickson says businesses also can “provide work-based learning opportunities for high school students.”
Story by Heather Strang
Photo by Brian McCord
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