Alliance Charter Academy, Oregon City | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I wanted to love this school. We put four years of our life into this school. My three children went there. There were a handful of wonderful teachers that we will never forget; the playground is lovely, and we made some good friends, the elementary level can be joyous, relaxed, and warm at times. That being said; it ultimately wasn’t enough to make up for the very poor and unprofessional, math department (placement, support and work loads are often inappropriate), uncaring, inflexible special education services (lumping all high school special ed students into one 8am class and offering no alternatives to that) and condescending/biased/dismissive manner of treatment from too many of the teachers. If you have a child that needs any special services, is a reluctant learner, or struggles in math go somewhere else.

They advertise themselves as a homeschool charter, but at the high school level they pressure you to have students on site for core classes and any classes done for credit for proficiency are not given much support other than a 30 minute meeting twice a year. We tried to make it work for a very long time; but ultimately it did not work for us. For some this school may be a fantastic fit, and there is clearly a nice community, and some caring teachers, but it is definitely not for just anyone, and it is not as flexible or respectful of family needs/choices as it advertises.

Things to also consider: Their class offerings work like college courses. Classes are at different times during the day and schedules like this can make it tricky if you have multiple kids and live a little distance from the school. That first year I was driving back and forth multiple times a day with 3 different schedules that did not line up well. There can be 3 hour gaps of time between two of the classes that do not work well unless you are okay with dedicating your time to being a driver. Also, contact time with teachers is really not very high; they make up for this by assigning a lot of homework, and expecting parents to pick up the slack of teacher hour/contact time. Fridays are not a teacher contact day; parents are the teachers on Fridays. There are several weeks in the school year that the teachers are not available; and the parents are to provide the instruction during those weeks. Parents are a very important part of how this school sustains itself, but parents do not receive very much support to do this (from my experience).

All this being said, we have many good memories here with some wonderful families and some staff are truly wonderful, too.

I love this school so much. With the flexible schedules and ES’s it’s truly unique and that makes it wonderful. For those of you who don’t know, an ES is an education specialist. Every student is assigned one (that they think fits best) and you meet with your ES once a week to keep on track, get help, or just vent if you need it. I think this is great, as with larger schools that have one counselor for the entire student body, students are lost in the crowd. Most teachers I’ve found to be amazing; excited about their subject and eager to share. In the last few years we have acquired 3 new teachers as some old favorites left. These new teachers are pretty terrible, but it’s still a small ration in relation to the good ones. I feel like because it is a k12 school the younger students are less afraid to enter higher grades, and the higher grades are a little more aware of what they say or do. This school is also very lacking in… I guess just “trouble”. I’ve never heard f anyone feeling bullied, the hallways are safe, lockers are all unlocked and NO items have been stolen, and there’s even a tea and coffee station that’s just run on the honor system of putting your money in the jar, and it works. There’s a drama club, a Christian Students United club, and a Gay Straight Alliance club. There’s not a whole lot of diversity, but I don’t think the school can be blamed for that. The mixture of on site classes and online classes homeschool courses makes for a unique and individualized learning experience, which is beneficial to a lot of students. I also find there’s not a lot of age discrimination at ACA. In other schools i hear of people freaking out that someone’s friends with a freshman, dating a senior, in a class below or above their level… at ACA you’re placed in the class you want to/can take. I took geometry with an 8th grader! I don’t know what age everyone is half the time, and I think that’s a good thing, to have that mixture. All in all I recommend it 100%

This school has been a perfect fit for our family. We love the mixed-age family atmosphere and I have been pleasantly surprised by all the positive interactions my 10-year-old regularly has with high school students. I believe the administration is as flexible as a state-funded school could possibly be with curriculum and structure of the program. My freshman son enjoys the group learning environment in the upper level classes (SO glad he is not forced to slog through required courses but can enter whatever level he is ready for), and my younger daughter loves the music, dance, fencing, pottery and science classes she is taking. We do a mix of independent home schooling and on-site classes and have found them to be very accommodating and fair in granting credit for work done at home. I only wish there were a similar program closer to where we live. What I love best about ACA: they really care about the kids, and they are passionate about learning.