Learning Academy.
Cultivating Confident, Creative and Compassionate Leaders
Our Mission
To eliminate the prolific racial achievement and opportunity gaps by cultivating confident, creative, compassionate leaders. We are different on purpose.
Cultivating Confidence
You will hear us call our students leaders. We want to surround them with language that reminds them who they are. We value giving students feedback when they are meeting expectations because we believe students do best when we are patient, kind and clear. We believe students do best when they know we see them as capable and use words to build them up. You will see us combine structure like: lines in the hallway, hugs and bubbles, expected behavior agreements and high expectations for engagement with freedom like: collaborative conversations with children about how they are feeling, problem solving with students to address behavior and play time during the school day. We are helping children become independent learners. We know children need chances to make choices, make mistakes (that’s how you learn) and take responsibility for their actions. Neuroscience shows us that practice with choices leads to academic success.
Cultivating Creativity
You will see children playing during many parts of the day. You will see your leader using paint, markers, clay, blocks and all kinds of things to practice telling stories and explaining how they think. We know this is how you strengthen their ability and use their imagination to lead. You will see us problem solving with children. Creativity is a muscle that gets stronger with practice. We ask them to repair with their friends and think about solutions when they are reflecting on an unexpected behavior. You will see us bending to their eye level to show our respect. These are skills they will need not just today but into their future. We ask children what they think and we listen.
Cultivating Compassion
You will see us model kind words. You will see us modeling repairs by apologizing to children and each other when we have made mistakes. You will see us helping children learn to share their heart and be honest about how they feel and what has happened. You will see us helping students respond to others who are having a hard time with empathy rather than judgement.. We have all felt frustrated, sad, lonely, hurt or embarrassed. Teaching the zones of regulation helps children know that all the emotions happen to everyone. We teach children to breathe and regulate themselves so they can make choices to reach their goals. We love our Kairos leaders and believe that love is the strongest thing on earth. We are honest and expect their honesty. We are patient since we too have made mistakes. We hold them accountable to reflect and repair if they have caused harm. We teach them to understand what their brain needs to grow. We know that every child wants to do well and make you proud
About KairosPDX
Kairos is Greek... for a special moment in time and we believe we are creating this time and space for children and families, making our Learning Academy a very special place. We believe that attacking systemic racism is essential to achieving our mission and we are passionate about being voices for change in our city. Families and staff collaborate as we work together on behalf of our children and families. We support the whole child: academically, socially, emotionally and culturally. KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School utilizes culturally responsive practices to cultivate full student engagement. We have grown every year since inception and currently serve 232 students. We practice a combination of direct instruction and inquiry-based experiences towards maximizing learning for all students. We infuse mindfulness and restorative practices towards teaching the whole child, at all points of the day.
KairosPDX is housed in the former Humboldt Elementary building. The school building once taught many of our students’ parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. It serves as one of the lasting fixtures in a neighborhood where gentrification visibly impacts the surrounding area. Charter Schools are public schools that are intended to provide innovative programs with specific educational philosophies. KairosPDX Learning Academy focuses on closing achievement and opportunity gaps for children of color.
Why KairosPDX is Different
KairosPDX is built on the neuroscience of love and belonging. It prioritizes these things in all of our work:
Anti-Racism
Resilience
Cultivation Rehumanization
Culturally-Affirming Blackness Education
Our Model
Rehumanization of children through a model grounded in the neuroscience of love, demonstrating data-informed, anti-racist, resiliency-based, and culturally affirming education.
Opened in 2014
Serving grades K-5
Extended school year
STEM, ARTS, PE, PLAY
Emphasis on family partnership
Intentional cultural identity development
Uniform dress code
KairosPDX Learning Academy Enrollment
If you are interested in your child attending KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School, know that we have information sessions every year in March for the school year beginning in August and will post those dates here in January. If you are interested in applying outside of our annual March application info session window, please contact us by email or phone (503-567-9820) We can make sure you have access to an application and answer any questions you may have.
KairosPDX
Informational Brochures
Vietnamese
Spanish
Somali
Russian
Chinese
English
KairosPDX Family Council
KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School KairosPDX Family Council (KFC) intends to bridge the gap between families, leadership, and staff for families to work to strengthen the school community of KairosPDX by providing resources in community, playgroups, conversations, and connections to support equitable education for all students. All KairosPDX families are invited to join and contribute their lived experience, knowledge, and skills to support the learning community.
Student Vaccination Rates
Our Wellness Policy
KairosPDX Learning Academy Public Charter School is committed to the optimal development of every student. Kairos believes that for students to have the opportunity to achieve personal, academic, developmental, and social success, we need to create positive, safe, and health-promoting learning environments at every level, in every setting, throughout the school year.
Student Investment Account Plan
Our Annual Report for 2023-2024 can be found here.
Signed into law May 2020, The Student Success Act is a historic opportunity for Oregon Schools. When fully implemented, this Act will invest approximately $2 billion for early learning and K-12 education, with close to $500 million going directly to districts and eligible charter schools through the Student Investment Account (SIA). The student investment account is a non-competitive grant that focuses on five key areas:
Reducing Academic Disparities
Meeting students’ mental and behavioral needs
Providing access to academic courses
Allowing teachers and staff sufficient time to collaborate, review data, and develop strategies to help students stay on track
Establishing and strengthening partnerships
Thanks to the collaboration, input and support of our KairosPDX families, we were able to identify three priority areas which were used to craft our initial plan & executed contract:
A need for mental/behavioral health supports.
A need for teacher collaboration time and innovative assessment specific to mathematics.
A need for culturally relevant curriculum and enrichment opportunities.
Our 2025-2027 submitted plan can be found here, our three priority areas in this plan are:
Staffing and professional development in foundational literacy skills across K-3.
Staffing and professional development in culturally responsive classroom management.
Increased access to culturally relevant resources to support student emotional and behavioral support to accelerate academic learning.
Staffing and professional development to increase socio-emotional and mental health support for students to accelerate academics.
KairosPDX SIA Survey 2025-2027
We want to hear from you! As part of our funding from the State of Oregon Student Investment Account (SIA), we want to hear from our families to help determine important areas of funding for the upcoming school years. Take a few minutes to complete this survey.
2024-2025 School-Level Communicable Diseases Management Plan
KairosPDX is operating an Onsite Learning Model. Review our plan for the school year 2024-2025.
2025-2027 Integrated Plan
Oregon Department of Education (ODE): Access to the narrative responses to our application, budget, outcomes, and strategies.
Integrated Programs Budget
Narrative Responses
Outcomes and Strategies