Opal Charter School is an elementary public charter school of the Portland Public School District and a program of the Portland Children's Museum. Opal Charter School students come from neighborhoods throughout Portland and are selected through an open lottery process.

Opal School uses inquiry-based approaches to learning through the languages of the arts and sciences. The School is influenced and inspired by the principles and practices of the early childhood schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy.

As a charter school, Opal is required to meet the state benchmarks and our students consistently perform very well on state tests. Opal School received a rating of “exceptional” for the 2007-08 school year on the state report card. However, we don’t believe that standardized tests alone are sufficient to determine a child’s achievements

We use a wide variety of tools and processes, in addition to standardized tests, to provide information about the progress of each child. Parents are invited into the process of documenting the work of children.

Opal School is a mixed-age program where children have opportunities to interact and work collaboratively with others, not always peers of the same age. The teachers consider the cognitive and emotional development of each child and plan the curriculum accordingly. The intention is to provide a rich and varied curriculum of high challenge, yet low risk, appropriate to the developmental level of each child.

Classes and Staffing: Opal Charter School has three mixed-age classrooms with two teachers per class.

Class sizes:
K-1 class, no more than 25 students
2-3 class, no more than 27 students
4-5 class, no more than 28 students

Our staffing also includes studio specialists in the arts, sciences, and physical education. Special education services are provided on-site through Portland Public Schools.

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