Metropolitan Learning Center (Portland, Oregon)

This article is about the school in Portland, Oregon. For the school in Bloomfield, Connecticut, see Metropolitan Learning Center (Bloomfield, Connecticut).
Metropolitan Learning Center
Address
Mailing address only (school is located
within the city of Portland, Oregon):
2033 NW Glisan Street
Portland, Oregon, Multnomah County, 97209
United States
Information
Type Public
Opened 1915
School district Portland Public Schools
Principal Macarre Traynham
Grades K-12
Number of students 460
Campus Urban
Color(s) Black and Red   
Athletics conference OSAA
Mascot Underdog
Rival Chapman Elementary School
Website Official school website
MLC east entrance detail - Portland Oregon.jpg
Couch School Building
Built 1915
Architect Floyd Naramore
Architectural style Tudor Revival
Part of Alphabet Historic District (#00001293)

The Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC) is a public K-12 school in Portland, Oregon, United States. The school's playground is attached to Couch Park.

Academics

In 2008, 86% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma. Of 35 students, 30 graduated, 4 dropped out, and 1 received a modified diploma.[1][2]

History

Couch School

In 1913 Portland voters were asked to consider a school budget that included new construction to modernize Portland schools. The dilapidated "Couch School," an 1883 structure that had recently closed to contain an outbreak of smallpox,[3][4] would be torn down, and a new Couch School would be built in 1914 at a cost of $177,000.[5]

The architect for the new school was Floyd Naramore, newly employed as architect and superintendent for Portland Public Schools. Naramore was responsible for many Portland school designs including Benson Polytechnic High School and Shattuck School.[6] Reflecting modern standards of the day, Tudor Revival was chosen as the style for Couch School.

Both the 1883 school and the 1914 school were named for Captain John Heard Couch, an early settler whose land became known as the Couch Addition when Northwest Portland was platted.

Metropolitan Learning Center

In 1968 Portland Public Schools began an experimental study environment at Couch School designated the Metropolitan Learning Center. Starting with 150 students from Couch School and other sites, the center encouraged students to create their own instructional environment. The center worked with Portland State College, later Portland State University, and Reed College to offer student teachers a central role in classroom instruction. The plan resulted in fewer discipline problems and higher attendance.[7]

Later the school building was renamed Metropolitan Learning Center.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "State releases high school graduation rates". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  2. ↑ "Oregon dropout rates for 2008". The Oregonian. 2009-06-30. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  3. ↑ "Taxpayers to Decide Tonight". The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Media Group). November 25, 1913. p. 10.
  4. ↑ "Couch School House (Portland, Oregon)". University of Oregon Libraries. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Oregon Historic Site Form: Metropolitan Learning Center" (PDF). Oregon State Historic Preservation Office; Portland Public Schools. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ Ritz, Richard Ellison (March 2003). Architects of Oregon. Portland, Oregon: Lair Hill Publishing. p. 293. ISBN 0-9726200-2-8.
  7. ↑ Guernsey, John (October 8, 1968). "Children Come And Go As They Please, Work At Own Pace, Receive No Grades". the Oregonian (Portland, Oregon: Oregonian Media Group). p. 41.

External links

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