The schools
26 schools · sorted by grade levelA progressive private K–8 with an inquiry-driven approach — arts, design, engineering, and science framing project-based, interdisciplinary learning.
A progressive private K–8 on a wooded campus, with thematic mixed-age studios where projects weave literature, design-tech, and Socratic math.
A tuition-free K–8 PPS focus option built on a constructivist, inquiry-driven model, where students build understanding through hands-on science projects.
A progressive forest school (K–4) meeting 1–2 days a week, with play-led, project-based environmental learning in the outdoors.
A progressive Acton Academy micro-school (K–8) on a learner-driven model — self-paced, project- and quest-based, with no traditional teachers.
Horizon's K-8 program is built around project-based learning, with a signature yearly project in every grade, from Kindergarten leprechaun traps to a 5th grade Living History Museum, plus a weekly Middle School STEAM program that culminates in an annual Science and Art Fair.
A tuition-free K–12 PPS alternative program using the Expeditionary Learning model — one of Portland's longest-running progressive public schools.
A tuition-free K–8 PPS focus option where multi-age clusters live inside one historical era for the year, taking on period identities and building toward full-cluster performances and culmination events.
A full-day outdoor microschool where students set their own daily goals and each choose an annual interest project to research, prepare, and present to the cohort.
A progressive private K–8 where academics happen outdoors daily through small, project-based, place-based learning in forest settings.
A tuition-free K–8 charter built on place-based education — the island's farms, river, and wildlife refuge become the project-based classroom. Campus also includes a STEAM Lab where every students gets guaranteed time to bring projects from design to real world building.
A tuition-free K–8 charter using place-based, project-based learning anchored in environmental science, outdoor fieldwork, and school gardens.
A tuition-free PPS K–8 focus option where yearly themes and the Storyline method turn each year into one long inquiry, and middle schoolers spend Thursdays doing field research around Portland.
A tuition-free K–8 charter built on place-based learning. Each trimester is one integrated project on a Portland social studies or science theme, taught through social-justice and eco-justice lenses.
A tuition-free K–5 PPS charter centered on the Project Approach — multi-age K/1, 2/3, and 4/5 classes run long investigations of real-world topics, with regular field studies on foot and by transit.
A progressive independent PK–12 known for inquiry-driven curriculum and experiential, project-based learning across every division.
Portland's leading AMI-certified Montessori. After elementary, the Childpeace middle school program transitions into "Project-Based Learning", where adolescents tackle six-week cycles of intensive study with varying themes.
A tuition-free PK–8 charter following the EL Education (Expeditionary Learning) model — learning organized around real-world, project-based expeditions.
A nonprofit micro-school where PK-5 students pursue inquiry-driven studies sparked by their own curiosity, while the new self-directed Middle School builds each day around long-term project blocks and portfolio-based assessment instead of grades.
A progressive private PK–6 school where year-long thematic units integrate homeroom subjects with specialist classes, ending in student presentations for families.
A progressive, fully outdoor micro-school (ages 2.5–10) with an emergent, place-based curriculum. Teachers follow children's interests with open-ended tools like magnifying glasses and mud kitchens, then anchor seasonal activities in science, art, math, and literacy.
A 1-to-4-day-a-week outdoor program for ages 3–16 that prioritizes place-, project-, and service-based learning outdoors: shelter building, field research, farm-to-table cooking, and guild-themed quests for teens.
A progressive one-day-a-week outdoor program merging project-based survival skills with live-action role-play quests.
A homeschool-hybrid collective for grades 4-6 where the projects come first: students choose each unit of study, and the teacher builds hands-on group and individual work around their questions. With enrollment capped at 8, every project gets shaped by every voice in the room.
A tuition-free 4–8 charter where students pick a topic for a term-long Independent Projects, grades mix, and every teacher works with every student.
A progressive private 6–12 where students co-design a personalized learning plan, choosing from a catalog that includes student-initiated and community-taught courses. Proficiency-based narrative evaluations replace letter grades, and every senior completes a self-designed Senior Dissertation.