We have been attending the Northwest Reading Clinic for the last 10 months with my 6 year old. We…read morestarted at the clinic because his school couldn't provide services for him even though he couldn't remember his alphabet sounds and other simple kindergarten skills. After 10 months, he's learned all his letters and sounds and the rules associated with reading and he's reading above level which is so exciting to him and to us. I can't say enough about the great people who have worked with him. They tested and knew exactly what he needed and where his difficulties were exactly. Allie was his main clinician and she was awesome. She totally got his individuality and unique personality and she worked with it and made it a positive instead of requiring him to fit a certain mold for instruction. He loves her and all the other clinicians who helped along the way. Thank you so much for making a difference in his life, we are really grateful!

From the owner: Northwest Reading Clinic is a diagnostic center specializing in diagnosing and treating reading,…read morespelling, comprehension difficulties, and dyslexia. We also develop visual memory for letters, sight word recognition, vocabulary, writing, math, and study skills. Following a through diagnostic testing and evaluation, students attend daily sessions for one-on-one treatment with experienced, well-trained clinicians. We work with students aged five through adult and serve the entire Portland-Vancouver metro area.

I'd been exploring using NWRC for nearly three years for my son when I finally pulled the trigger…read moreand enrolled him. I'm so grateful I finally made the decision because it's made an even bigger difference than I thought possible! NWRC's team is consistent, conscientious, and detailed. They got to know my son (both through their extensive testing, and also by working so closely with him one on one) and due to their, and his, hard work he finally broke through a number of issues he'd be struggling with when it came to reading. He now reads above grade level and is able to experience more success in other areas of his education as a result of finally having strong reading skills. If you're on the fence, just go ahead and enroll. You absolutely will not regret it.

NW reading clinic was able to do for my daughter what the public school system failed to do for…read moreyears- bring her reading level up! If your first thought is "it's too expensive"- you are not alone. Did we love spending this much money? No- but the quality of instruction at NW reading clinic is really top notch. No amount "regular tutors" were going to help our daughters achievements in the way that Northwest Reading clinic was able to. She progressed significantly in the Time that she worked with Northwest Reading clinic, and we will be doing another few months this summer again to help her further progress. If your child has challenges in reading, run, don't walk, to their website now and get your child evaluated. You will be glad you did. (and our daughter loved both of her tutors Tutors!!!)

I love this school. Both of my children attended here. They have a very caring faculty and students…read moreget a great education not only for college but for eternity.

From the owner: Our educational program specializes in a safe learning environment for academics, sports, social…read moreactivities, Christian spiritual development, and leadership mentoring. We are looking for students desiring this type of education.

My 5 year old son is in Kindergarten (Kalama) at the Gardner School and absolutely loves it. He has…read moreattended Gardner since the 3 year old preschool, Tum Tum. A few brief facts about Gardner School: preschool through 8th grade, maximum student capacity of 120, 5 bucolic acres with view of Mt St Helens and a wetlands, integrated curriculum (more on this later), explicit inter-grade interactions. The philosophy of the school is that children have 8 distinct intelligences: Verbal/linguistic, math/logic, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist. Acknowledging that each child has each of these in varying degrees, they teach material through each of these lenses to ensure that each student has the opportunity to learn and excel in a manner best suited to them. Part of this involves teaching subjects that have virtually disappeared from public education: art, music, physical education. Reinforcing the idea that people are at different levels and learn in different ways and speeds are the mixed-age classrooms. The classrooms combine 1st grade with 2nd grade, 3rd with 4th, 5th with 6th, and 7th with 8th. An interesting side-effect of all this is that the students learn empathy. In addition to the integrated curriculum, the school has thematic studies that apply across the entire school, a great example is when the school was studying birds. The preschoolers each picked a kind of bird to be, crafted a costume, and talked about how their bird is adapted to the environment ( my son: "I'm a heron, and with my long beak I eat fish and frogs." ). This was immediately after performing The Hungry Caterpillar in Spanish. Another classroom painted watercolors of local birds that they had seen through their romps in the wetlands. My mother, who is a retired elementary art teacher, was blown away at the high level skill of all of the images, and then utterly floored when it was pointed out that they were done by 1st and 2nd graders. The 3rd and 4th graders wrote and performed a series of shadow puppet plays about how certain birds interacted with their various ecosystems. Another example of the integrated curriculum is the art projects of cell structures done by one of the classrooms--science isn't limited to just the science class and art isn't limited to just the art class. Our son has found the inter-class interactions to be very enriching. These interactions are both explicit and ad-hoc. The classes are assigned buddies in other classes. The Kindergarteners (Kalama) are paired with a 7th or 8th grader (Tahoma) and the 4 year old preschool children (Mazama) are paired with a 3rd or 4th graders (Wy'East). At various times throughout the term, they'll have special buddy activities. Additionally there's a fair amount of unstructured time for the students to interact together either in the form of Open Choice (where the students have options of what they'll do for the day and decide themselves which to do) and After Care. The end result is that 1) my son is obsessed with playing soccer (mostly with the older children insisting on being goalie and that the older kids "shoot on him"), 2) he learned to play chess, and 3) he's really into sea creatures like sharks, whales and squids. Another interesting side-effect is that it seems to much more rapidly increase the children's vocabulary (my 5 year old came home yesterday talking about "topographic maps") and comfort interacting with children younger and older and adults. Our son's class cohort is filled with great children and wonderful, genuine parents. We've become good friends with several, and our son during the first day of a long weekend trip said, "I miss J*** [another student] already." It isn't all rainbows and unicorns though. Like Portland in general, Gardner skews fairly white, but (anecdotally--I don't have any hard numbers) Gardner is seems a bit more diverse than the ambient population. Gardner can also be a significant time and financial commitment. While preschool tuition is extremely competitively with many other programs throughout the greater Portland metro, each family is expected to participate in the school and volunteer helping with events and around the school. From Kindergarten on, tuition is a bit higher, but still quite competitive with other area independent schools. Also, for us, driving from Camas to Salmon Creek everyday can be a bit of a grind, which is somewhat alleviated by carpooling and Waze. No place is perfect though, and, for us, Gardner School is the optimal fit for our needs and values.

Run as fast as you can from Gardner Arts and Science School. Your child deserves better…read more As a concerned parent, I need to warn families about Gardner Arts and Science School's serious problems, problems rooted in the current head of school's complete lack of leadership. She is indecisive, dismissive, and out of touch, leaving teachers to create their own curriculum without any real standards. Most students test below state levels, and many need tutors just to keep up. This is unacceptable for the most expensive private school in the area. Families are leaving in droves, even mid-year, because the instability and poor leadership put their children's education and emotional health at risk. This chaos echoes the split five years ago when half the board and many teachers left to start Lupine. The school board is ineffective, and parents have no real support. If you care about your child's future, don't send them here. The head of school's incompetence is driving this school into the ground.