Star Schools

EAGLE Charter is a state-sponsored K-5 elementary school in Salem, Oregon with a 145 students across six grades and the Board has every intention of staying small.  Voted Best of Mid-Valley for local charter schools, leadership and staff see no reason to change and although the lottery application process is open to all residents of Oregon and the school boasts quite a waiting list, entrance is limited to 24 students for the incoming Kindergarten class and few openings in other grades. This is good news for Eagle Charter families. Staying small provides their children a strong sense of community and indeed, the entire point of this particular school is to bring a sense of family to its learning environment. That means being clever, focused and efficient with limited resources. Located on the campus of the Oregon School for the Deaf allows the school to share security, food services and the beautiful grounds of a larger educational environment.“EAGLE”– Education through Activities in Governance, Leadership and Enterprise–was born as a result of a student contest so it is clear that student voice and choice was a priority from the beginning. The school’s motto is “Building kind and competent citizens through hands-on and real-world experiences” and everything they do – from the classroom to the board room and infused into our strategic planning efforts – keeps this mission front and center. MicroSociety activities and the messy problems that arise there are woven throughout the day providing a multidimensional approach to the entire curriculum.The school frequently holds open houses for the community to see Micro-in-Action and to track economic changes due to market success and failure. But that is all in a day’s work if you want to prepare students for life in the real world.