This is a wonderful school and community with incredible teachers. If you are looking for an…read moreeducation that is deeply invested in children's imagination, embodiment, nervous system regulation, compassion, care, and creativity, I highly recommend checking this school out. Our family has been part of the school since my children began in the outdoor kindergarten, and over the years I've found it to be such a grounded, nourishing way for them to learn. They've developed strong social skills, a deep relationship with nature, and the ability to co-create with others through joy and play. The school beautifully nurtures their way of seeing and being in community, service, and connection. Not only do they cultivate curiosity, but children also learn musical instruments, work with their hands, dance and move, study Japanese language and culture, and engage in rich practices of storytelling and listening. We've participated in amazing field trips to places like Ekone Ranch, the Salmon Ceremony at Oxbow, service trips to the food bank, and more. The kids also participate in Nature Immersion Fridays, where they build and explore in creeks, rivers, and forests--co-creating with friends while learning practical outdoor skills and environmental identification. This is truly a beloved school, and one I highly recommend visiting to see if it's the right fit for your family.

Our family has had children at Shining Star for the last 10 years. Our oldest attended from 1st…read morethrough 8th grade and is now a thriving sophomore at a local public high school. We also have a 5th grader and a 7th grader currently at the school. We love the small size of the school--every teacher knows every student--and the way that the children interact across grade levels. Our children have experienced kind, caring teachers, engaging, hands-on learning, and have maintained their love and excitement for learning across the grades. They have experienced a wide-array of classes including strings, band, handwork, folk dance, Japanese and many different art classes. They love how much time they spend outside every day and how deeply they know and are known by their main lesson teachers. We also appreciate that Shining Star provides quality Waldorf education at an affordable price.

King's Way has great education. I'll give them that. But they completely ignore what their kids'…read moresocial experience is. I have personally experienced bullying here and no one did anything. I actually even heard and saw child p*rn of one of the students being passed around that had been taken at a sleepover.

Our experience has been nothing short of amazing. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt our kid's…read morelives are permanently changed for the better. The teachers that love and care for our kids, instilling the values we believe in, and expecting academic excellence will no doubt propel them forward on the best trajectory possible. If you are dissatisfied and disappointed with where your kids are now, you won't be sorry you made the switch.

I went to this school from 1st to late 4th grade, before I started attending, I was a quite kid…read more never fit in, york really made me blossom and find my own personality, there I met my best friend whos still my still my best friend to this day 2023. when i move away mid 4th grade i curled back into my shell. at my new school i made friends but it wasnt the same, i went to that school for 2 years and never adjusted. it wasn't just my friends i missed, it was the staff Aswell. im now 13 going on 14 and still think about york to this day, it truly was the best school ever. it was the best 3-4 years of my life, home wasn't great so every morning i'd wake up i looked forward to school. i have amazing memories there. i still laugh at them to this day, and me and my best friend tear up sometimes looking at pictures of the school, i completely recommend it. tearing up has i finish this review, i have soooo much more to say but this is just a review lol. point is, this school was the best thing that ever happened to me. -Aubrie clasen

They have helped my son in just a short time.. moving to this school was the best thing everread more

so hi have two different experiences with this school and none is good…read more the first thing is one teacher (whom I think is retired) made me and my brother cry into walkie-talkie and hate both of us. the other bad experience is from my brother who is now doing online school because of this, his 3 grade teacher made him sit in a class room because "he wasn't allowed to eat ice cream", he was able to, he did all his work but still he couldn't have ice cream. this teacher did many bad things and caused him to switch classes. he had another bad thing but that was because of the kids

I would strongly recommend that families consider other options until there is new leadership at…read morethis school. During our experience, school administration provided inaccurate or misleading information during the enrollment process. This included representations about the gender composition of incoming classes and the grade levels typically offered. Although the school is listed as serving K-8, enrollment has not historically supported consistent offerings across the upper grades. The school also lacks adequate training, policies, and structural support for a diversity of learners. Families whose children require accommodations or flexibility--including those supported by physician documentation--may find that exceptions to stated policies are not respected, even when based on medical need. Overall, the gap between how the school presents itself and the day-to-day reality was significant. In our experience, this environment was far less supportive and far more rigid than local public school options, including Portland Public Schools.

When I first drove by this odd little building across from Montgomery Park, I never would have…read moreguessed that one day it would become like a second home for our family. I can't say enough good things about the teachers, staff and families that make up the CLASS community. The small, age-blended classes allow the teachers and staff to truly understand and cater to the needs of each student. More importantly, the teachers and staff truly care about each student and are highly dedicated to their success. I'm truly amazed at the job they have done fostering our son's emotional and academic development. They've helped instill a sense of confidence in him that I never thought would be possible. Most parents are also very involved in the school (and several of the teachers/staff have kids at the school) which helps create a true sense of community. As the saying goes, "it takes a village to raise a child" and our family is extremely grateful that our village is the CLASS Academy community.

It goes well! But I would say I go there and a lot of kids curse and don't listen but it goes goodread more

Just moved from Houston Independent School district to the Vancouver Public Schools…read more I'm comparing them coming from a 5 star school in Houston. Building is old but it's updated, so it has a modern feel to it, you can't see much wrong with the school from glancing at it. School hours are from 8:30am to 2:50pm. They release earlier at their discretion sometimes. This school helps out families by doing food distributions twice a month on a first come first serve basis. Compared to the school in Houston, my kids believes it's better. The people are nicer, it seems less stressful to pick up your kids. In Houston, people are rushed, disgruntled, will sometimes get in fights about people cutting lines, in front of kids and all. Here it seems like people care about the students ALOT. They are tight knit in the community, a dog was loose on the playground, and tho he was friendly, the owner was called, cops showed up. A report was done, I got a message from the community bulletins about it online. In Houston this would not have happened. Idk why people think it's bad, maybe compared to other schools it's "not as good" but it is waaaaat better than the school system we came from.

This is our first year at Lewis and this has been the most pleasantly positive and easy…read moreexperiences. Our kiddo is coming from a Montessori preschool setting, which ended up being very difficult for us. The school has offered us all the support, welcoming staff and families, lots of wonderful programs, that are all wonderful. Lewis promotes diversity-love-support to students & families from all backgrounds (they stand t true to the their word about being inclusive, unlike other schools that just throw the word around, but do not hold true to). All of the kids are so friendly to one another. It definitely has more of an arts feel to it. The facility is very secure, and the classrooms are very clean & full of natural daylight. Our student is also blessed with a 16 student classroom vs 25 students for the school we were slated to go to that us east of here.

an amazing school with great teachers I was a student there and had a great time. Music program has…read morelots of marimba and singing wide range of books in the library and really fun and enjoyable games in PE

This School was a great school. The teachers were very kind and loving. There was never a time were…read moreI felt unsafe every teacher I had would be there for me. I loved this school and your kids should go there.

Our family's experience with Walnut Grove was extremely disappointing and raised serious concerns…read moreregarding communication, organization, student support, accountability, and overall school operations. As parents of children in both general education and special education support systems, we expected clear communication, consistency, structure, patience, and collaborative problem-solving. Unfortunately, our experience reflected repeated breakdowns across nearly every area. From the beginning, enrollment and onboarding felt disorganized. We encountered repeated inconsistencies between information provided by the front office, transportation, nursing staff, classroom staff, and school support personnel. We were often given conflicting instructions regarding pickup procedures, transportation expectations, required documentation, medical compliance, and daily school logistics, leaving our family to sort through constant internal miscommunication that should never fall on parents to untangle. One of the most concerning issues was the lack of internal coordination between departments. We repeatedly found ourselves relaying information between school staff, medical providers, transportation, and administration because there did not appear to be a coordinated communication system in place. Important medical and dietary documentation was repeatedly revisited, questioned, or re-requested even after updated forms had already been submitted. The handling of medical accommodations was unnecessarily stressful and at times felt confrontational rather than collaborative. Families should not be placed in repeated same-day compliance situations due to internal procedural gaps. There were multiple urgent requests, duplicated paperwork demands, and inconsistent messaging surrounding requirements that should have been fully clarified before attendance was approved. There were also concerns regarding how injuries and medical situations were handled. The level of urgency, professionalism, and parent communication we experienced did not reflect the standard of care families should reasonably expect from a school environment. Transportation was another major source of frustration. We experienced repeated confusion regarding route setup, pickup locations, bus stop instructions, and communication expectations. On the first day transportation was supposedly active, the bus failed to arrive as communicated, requiring us to unexpectedly transport our children ourselves. Even more concerning, our children were involved in a school bus accident and our family was never notified at the time of the incident. We only learned of it later and had to seek information ourselves. The district later acknowledged this as a communication failure. Regardless of severity, parents should be notified immediately anytime their children are involved in a transportation accident. As a parent of a child with autism and an IEP, I was especially disappointed by what often appeared to be inconsistent implementation of appropriate support strategies. There were moments where greater patience, autism-informed intervention, proactive regulation support, and developmental understanding were clearly needed. Instead, concerns were at times framed too quickly as behavioral choice rather than being approached through the lens of communication barriers, regulation challenges, environmental triggers, and developmental support needs. The TK program itself lacked the level of individualized redirection, patience, and structured support that transitional kindergarten students require. These are very young learners who are still building emotional regulation, communication skills, flexibility, and classroom independence. This stage requires thoughtful redirection and consistent developmental support, and that was not always evident. Classroom observation also raised concerns regarding peer behavior and supervision. We witnessed repeated disruptions, physical boundary issues between students, and inconsistent intervention. There were clear opportunities for stronger classroom structure and proactive behavioral guidance. There were also internal meetings and discussions involving our children that were not clearly communicated to us beforehand, followed by requests for signatures and forms without sufficient explanation or context. Parents deserve transparency and should never be asked to consent to educational decisions without a full understanding of what is being proposed. The school's support structure also appeared stretched and unclear. Certain support staff seemed to be balancing multiple overlapping roles, which created confusion around responsibility, communication pathways, and accountability. Rather than improving coordination, this often resulted in additional mixed messaging and inconsistency. Academically, expectations felt low. There was very little meaningful take-home reinforcement or homework to help extend learning, encourage family involvement,

I dont even want to give this school 1 star…read more This school and the staff are awful. my son attended for his fourth grade year and was constantly bullied not only by a student but his teachers as well. even though he was a great and model student, his teachers singled him out and scolded him because of his beliefs. when he was bullied, punched in the face, and had pictures circulating of him, they did absolutely nothing. after numerous visits phone calls to the school and the board nothing was done and he continued to be bullied until the end of the year.

I honestly wish I could keep my daughter here throughout elementary school. The whole experience…read morewas amazing. We had Mrs. Walker and the support I received for my daughter who has sensory processing struggles was just incredible. The last thing I want to mention is the supportive culture of all the parents also. Overall, felt like an extremely accepting, caring community.

This was our first year here and I'm so happy we found this place! Love the staff and that I get to…read morebe involved in my child's experience. Highly recommend!