School Reinvented

** DESIGN NOTE ** SLIDER TO BE ADDED IN THIS SECTION

For over 50 years, we have helped underserved and underestimated students thrive through equity, advocacy, and rigorous academics.

Two smiling Open School community members standing side by side

Our Mission

For over 50 years, Open School has been an innovative educational nonprofit dedicated to serving historically marginalized and underestimated youth across the Portland Metro area.

We are committed to eliminating race, poverty, and demography as predictors of student achievement and success. All students, regardless of their zip code or background, deserve quality education. At Open School we lead in equity, advocacy, and academics to meet them where they are.

See the Impact We've Made

Cover of the Open School 2025-26 Annual Impact Report, School Reinvented, showing a graduate in a cap and a smiling family member

In the past year, Open School doubled down on what we do best: showing up for students that traditional schools overlook. From graduation outcomes to early literacy breakthroughs to launching a statewide education coalition—here's what happened when we invested in belonging, academics, and advocacy.new 2025-26 Impact Report [link to new report].

Get Report [FPO link]
An Open School East graduate in cap and gown holding a diploma beside a smiling staff member

Our Programs

Open School East

Our alternative high school in East Multnomah County offers high-quality, identity-affirming, and relationship-based learning to students in grades 9-12.

A Step Up student in a helmet rappelling down a rope at a leadership camp

Step Up

A dedicated adult changes everything. Step Up pairs students in Portland high schools with trained near-peer mentors and advocates who keep them engaged, supported, and on track to graduate.

A Literacy Liberators student sitting outside a modern school building, smiling at the camera

Literacy Liberators

To address gaps in early literacy, this community-based, high-impact tutoring program equips community members with the tools, skills, and resources to advance literacy outcomes and achieve economic mobility.

Meet Open Champions

Open Champions: Oregon's education reality. 27% of fourth graders proficient in reading, 31% proficient in math, 33% of students chronically absent.

Oregon ranks last in the nation in fourth-grade reading and math. Open Champions is a bipartisan coalition of families, educators, and business leaders who read the same honest data and follow Oregon's education challenges from the Capitol to the classroom. Add your voice.

Open Champions

  • "Step Up builds relationships with students and families to do things that [most] schools aren't able to do."

    Chris Frazier
    Principal at Franklin High School

  • “As a Latina and Indigenous student, my daughter feels truly seen and understood by her advocate.”

    Step Up Parent

  • “Open School East has always operated from a stance of equity and inclusion.”

    Carla Gay
    Executive Director, Innovation & Partnerships
    Gresham-Barlow School District

  • “If it weren’t for Open School East, my son wouldn’t have graduated high school.”

    Open School East Parent

  • “Before I came to Open School, I struggled academically and it wasn’t easy to ask for help."

    Open School East Student

Systemic barriers are real. But so is what happens when we build systems designed differently. Your support strengthens the programs that catch students the traditional system leaves behind—and prove they were never the problem. The system was.

Rebuild the System. Change a Life.

Give Now
An Open School East graduate in cap and gown holding her diploma next to a smiling staff member holding a microphone