What Education Can Be
Integrating academic knowledge with real-world experience
What Education Can Be
Integrating academic knowledge with real-world experience
A Top-Tier Education, and Lessons in Character and Integrity
Catlin Gabel is Portland's nationally recognized progressive independent day school where teachers build transforming relationships with each student, honoring each child's innate capacities, encouraging exploration, welcoming questions, and always presenting new intellectual and creative challenges to our young scientists, storytellers, artists, and athletes.
Catlin Gabel supports inspired learning leading to responsible action through dedicated teaching, caring relationships, a challenging curriculum, and community service. We value each person's effort, imagination, and positive contributions to the community. We celebrate being inclusive and the partnership between family and school. Come see for yourself.
Student Body
770 students, grades preschool-12 representing 57 zip codes
Student Diversity
44% of students identify as people of color
67 Acre Campus
5 miles west of downtown Portland
3X RECIPIENT
of the Presidential Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics & Science
Million
$4.5
in financial assistance awarded to 27% of the student body
OSAA All-Sports
Awarded the OSAA All-Sports Award for 18 years, an award given to the school with the strongest record in all sports combined
Diversity
“Every Single Child is a Child of Diversity”
A conversation with Jasmine Love, Catlin Gabel’s Director of Equity and Outreach
An experienced educator and inclusivity practitioner, Jasmine Love has devoted her career to fostering communities in which all children can pursue educational excellence.
Palma Scholars Program
The Community as a Classroom
By Dave Whitson, Upper School History Faculty and Palma Scholars Program Director
Last fall, as Catlin Gabel’s faculty gathered to spend a professional development day thinking about experiential learning, a group of my students were in prison. I couldn’t have been more pleased.
Responsible Action
Nkenge Harmon Johnson ’93
A conversation with Nkenge Harmon Johnson ’93, head of the Urban League of Portland
The head of the Urban League of Portland talks about keeping her perspective in Washington, D.C., returning to Catlin Gabel as a Trustee, and why it’s best to stop when the President is walking by.
Spirit of Inquiry
Building on what they’ve Learned
by Jennifer Marcus ’73, Beginning School Woodshop Teacher
Henry, a five-year-old kindergartener, walked up to me and, with his hands in his pockets, declared, “I know what we should build next.”
Experiential Learning
Students in Scrubs: the Surgery Day Tradition
by Larry Hurst, 6th Grade Science Teacher
For one school day each year, we toss out our normal routine of individual classes and instead immerse ourselves in a parent-led exploration of select state-of-the-art medical technologies. It’s a wonderful and time-tested experiential activity in the 6th grade: Surgery Day.
Responsible Action
Making Community Connections
by Ken Dubois, Director of Public Relations and Publications
Six stories of how Catlin Gabel students identify issues and find ways to make a difference.