Primerly field report

The Emerson School

a tuition-free public charter in Portland

K–5 · Public · Charter · Project Approach · Portland Public Schools (charter sponsor). Lottery priority: siblings ▸ historically underserved applicants ▸ PPS residents ▸ other districts

1800 SW 1st Ave, Suite 1, Portland · Jenny Thompson, Executive Director

The Emerson School is a tuition-free K–5 public charter sponsored by Portland Public Schools, housed in a downtown building on SW 1st Avenue. Learning is built on the Project Approach: long-term studies of real-world topics that move through inquiry, investigation, and reflection and are shaped by students' own questions. Classrooms are multi-age, with 2 teachers each at K/1, 2/3, and 4/5.

Literacy combines guided and shared reading, daily read-alouds, phonics, and word study, with Fundations for systematic phonics in K–3, book clubs in the upper grades, and a traits-based writing model. Math draws on Mindset Mathematics and the San Francisco Unified School District curriculum, with an emphasis on hands-on problem solving.

Behavior and social skills are taught through Positive Discipline, framed around what skill a child needs to learn. The city is part of the classroom: students walk the neighborhood and ride public transit to parks, businesses, museums, and libraries on regular field studies. Service learning is built into projects, plus 2 all-school service days each year. Admission is by the school's own weighted lottery.

Tuition: Tuition-Free Public

Address: 1800 SW 1st Ave, Suite 1, Portland, OR 97201. Phone: 503-525-6124. Website: emersonschool.org.

All Portland-area schools on Primerly

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PPS rightsizing · a proposal, not a decision

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The basics

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A day here

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Getting in

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Your odds in the lottery

Seats here aren’t first-come; they’re drawn by lottery. Each circle below is a tenth of the families who applied over the last two springs and stayed in the running (didn’t take a higher-ranked school). Filled circles got a yes.

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but it depends who you are
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Official PPS lottery results, 2025-26 & 2026-27 combined: offers made ÷ families still in the running (offered + waitlisted); applications cancelled for a higher-ranked school excluded. pps.net › prior transfer data. Slots reset every year.
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Tuition
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