Summa Academy

2510 SW 1st Ave

Portland, OR 97201

14 Reviews

School District
Grade

K-8
Type

private

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Reviews

Submitted by parent on August 02, 2017

The day after the school year ended, the fired the teachers (including two brand new hires) and told the parents they liked that they were closing. The rest of us learned about it on facebook. This left people scrambling to find jobs, places for their high needs kids, and really disrupted peoples lives and broke kids hearts. They refuse to give any reason. Totally immature and a fitting end to a confusing couple of years. I pity the people who get mixed up with the Luvmour's next endeavor.
Submitted by parent on July 13, 2017

Just awful. The leadership is obsessed with their Natural Learning Relationships theories and completely uninterested in curriculum. They hired 3 teachers at the beginning of last year. At the end of the year, all 3 left. Ms Kara, the head of school, recently informed a group of children that she was "sick of their bullshit" and wasn't going to take it anymore. Not exactly the behavior you'd hope an educator would model. This place is quite simply a train wreck. So disappointing given their sunshine and rainbows promises.
Submitted by other on June 28, 2017

At the end of this school year, I feel compelled to write about my experiences with this school. My experience of this educational approach is very positive. They focus on the importance of relationships in education and they walk their talk from top to bottom. It is student centered, relating to children with the utmost respect for their individual differences. The core group of educators they have is amazingly well versed in creative approaches to curriculum creation and education that respects each learner. I love how the children learn in project-based learning with hands on applications of classroom learning. The field learning is an incredible experience for both children and parents who chaperone. The social and emotional learning is praiseworthy and just not found in other schools. It is a pleasure to be a part of this emergent and adaptable school community. As a family, we grew and learned this year, the administration has shown us that it is committed to supporting its families, and we have made some lovely friendships.
Submitted by parent on June 23, 2017

Very upset. Though I believe there is an intent to do good and to succeed with their NLR approach, it is simply not at a place where it can be executed properly. Parents are left feeling like they're doing something wrong. Kids are overwhelmed. I came here because I wanted an alternative to the public school system. A nurturing loving environment. I think that more often than not this place failed to do that. People should not claim to be able to support you and your struggling child when half the staff is unqualified and there is no real understanding of special needs outside of dyslexia. Our teacher left. Along with two others. That was the final straw for me to know I could not leave my child there any longer.
Submitted by parent on June 15, 2017

I wanted to wait until after the end of the school year to write a review but feel that I cannot wait. Overall, my child has had a good experience at Summa. Small classroom size and personal attention really helped my child thrive. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that have caused us to leave Summa after this year. The main reason is curriculum or lack of it. There is no set curriculum within the classroom or within the school. As a result, teachers are having to pull stuff of the internet with a lot of worksheets. We are concerned that our child will be greatly behind at the new school. From my observations and talking with other parents, bullying has become a real problem. My child has come home crying on many occasions and when I try to talk with the staff about this, I didn't get much of a response on how it would be handled. As a parent volunteer on field trips, I have witnessed students being rude and disrespectful to each other, teachers, and parents. Lastly, from my perspective, the leadership has their own agenda of how the school should be run and no matter how many parents speak up, this will never change.
Submitted by other on April 24, 2017

Summa is an ongoing experiment in education. It's not for everyone and requires a lot of parents. It's changing and improving year by year. If you agree with the model and its underlying principles, it may offer an amazing opportunity for you and your children (yes, both!) as it has for me and mine.
Submitted by parent on April 19, 2017

Here’s the deal with Summa: They have a knack for hiring really amazing teachers. They’re profoundly empathetic. And their guiding philosophy is wonderfully adaptable. What we love about the place: Our children are curious and enthusiastic about what they’re learning! They’re developing academic skills *and* critical thinking. They’re developing socially/emotionally in ways that I don’t think they would in other settings. Have they had some bumps in the road since they opened three-plus years ago? Yes. The administration has a very ambitious vision for what they’re trying to do. At the end of the day I trust Summa to create the childhood I want for my kids
Submitted by other on April 10, 2017

As a grandparent with a lot of contact with my grandchild, and as a former teacher, I am impressed with their knowledge and application of child develoment. They combine academic achievement and social/emotional learning so well that my grandchild can't wait to go to school each day. And my daughter raves about the parent program. I was invited to attend as well but I do the child care so both parents can attend. Everyone I have met is welcoming and knowledgable and seems to know all the children. Best of all, my granddaughter now loves math. The other day she told me it is more important to think about how to solve a problem than to just do calculations. Ha! What a delight to hear.
Submitted by parent on April 06, 2017

Summa is a great fit for our family. Small class sizes and individual learning plans really help to keep our second grader actively engaged and learning. The teachers are dedicated to understanding each student and finding the best ways to bring out their full potential. It has been nice to see our son's personality and confidence shine this year at Summa.
Submitted by other on March 25, 2017

We've been at Summa for multiple years and will leave at the end of this one. Everyone has their opinion on what makes a good school so I'll share the one thing that I wish I'd known before we committed to Summa. The turnover has been very, very high. I knew that, but at the point when thinking about whether to leave, I decided to add it up as it can be hard to figure out if it's "just you" having problems with a place. I sat down with last year's directory and compared the names in it to this year's. Not counting students in the highest grade who would be heading to high school, there were 41 students in last year's directory. Of those students, only 26 were still in this year's directory. 15 had left. 36%. More than 1 in 3. It was a sobering and helped us decide to leave. Note, I'm quite sure the "missing" students did not decide to drop out from the directory. I recognized most of the names. I just hadn't put the numbers together. I'm giving it 2 stars because it wasn't all terrible even though we feel that way now.
Submitted by parent on March 23, 2017

We have had our two children at this school for several years. The school has only been around for 4 years and has gone through some changes. The leadership of the school were great in listening to parent feedback and making changes to the program accordingly. One of the school's greatest strengths is its philosophy, an incredible holistic view of children which informs everything from curriculum to social skill development. Anyone who is familiar with holistic education will be exceedingly happy Here. I was surprised to see other parents posting here about high educator turnover here because we have been with teachers who have been there for all four years. In the K-1 classroom there was some turnover, but my understanding is that was because the kindergarten teacher went on maternity leave and then decided to stay home with her baby. There was one other teacher who left the middle school, but that was after 3 years. My husband and I have been exceedingly happy with the education our kids have gotten and look forward to many more years at this great holistic school.
Submitted by parent on March 22, 2017

We had hoped that small class sizes would mean individual attention and that our son would be challenged, going beyond his grade level where appropriate. This has not been the case. Summa's leadership is not really interested in ensuring that students are at grade level. There's a high level curriculum map that was introduced this year, but nothing to support teachers in implementing it. Teachers have to find their own curriculum materials which places a huge burden on them, particularly since student achievement levels and aptitudes vary enormously within classrooms. If you like the idea of unschooling, this might be a good place for you. If you want your child to transition to "regular" school at some point, I'd advise against Summa.
Submitted by parent on March 21, 2017

Summa is like camp: The teachers are fun and love kids. There is little structure. There is a choice of activities but no obligation to participate.There is exposure to experiences but no mastery of skills. The problem is that it's not camp, it's school. And when parents realize how far behind grade level their kids have gotten, there's a mad rush to catch up with the help of tutors or stay behind a grade at a new school. It's stressful for the children and can be expensive for the parents.
Submitted by parent on January 22, 2014

We are extremely pleased with our experience with Summa Academy. The motto "grow together" really holds true. Not only is our son having a very positive experience, but as parents we are learning what we can do to support his development. One thing I appreciate most about the school is that the teachers and curriculum are very focused on the child's stage of development. And they are a master at helping guide kids to develop interpersonal skills in addition to academic excellence.