The Cottonwood School of Civics & Science

Founded in 2007, The Cottonwood School is a K-8 tuition free public charter school located in Portland, Oregon. We provide progressive education with emphasis on a place based curriculum, the arts, and the outdoors.

The overarching philosophy of The Cottonwood School of Civics and Science is to create a community of learners that are deeply involved in developing a sense of place. Place-based education helps students learn a broad range of concepts by connecting them, whenever possible, with the natural and social community in which students live and learn. When students are youngest and most concrete in their thinking, place-based education strives to immerse them deeply into the community allowing them to connect their learning to tangible experiences around them. The youngest students' community, including their home, classroom and immediate neighborhood, is the focus of their work. As they grow and become more capable of abstract thought, learning moves out in concentric geographic rings. As students grow, their community expands to include Portland, Oregon, the United States and the world beyond.

Our education is student-centered and responsive to the whole child. We amplify student voice and participation, honor natural curiosity, and respect childhood. The Cottonwood School curriculum is mostly written in-house and teachers strive for each student to reach a deep understanding of the material. Knowledge and skills are embedded within interdisciplinary problems, projects, and questions. Inquiry and project-based teaching strategies allow teachers to guide students through content, providing authentic purposes for concept and skill acquisition. Core concepts and enduring understandings are developed from grade to grade, and students have a voice in the development of classroom projects. Our values of critical thinking, courage, citizenship, and creativity are embedded within the curriculum. Cottonwood focuses on the development of the whole child. Social emotional education and relationship based teaching and positive discipline are valued equally with the academic curriculum to create a supportive, kind, and inclusive community.