8471 SW 37th Ave
Portland, OR 97219

This school has really done a great job of making my kid and I feel very welcome and part of a community (that was new to us prior to COVID) which has been a life saver over these COVID years. The teachers have been total sweethearts and the staff has really pulled together to give the kids as normal and healthy a school experience as possible. We also got a new principal in the middle of it all who had to deal with a bunch of tough stuff right off the bat and she knocked it out of the park every time. I am eternally grateful to have found a school with such a commitment to emotional well being as Maplewood does as well as all the academic stuff (which is also great!)

I am currently a freshman at Ida B. Wells. So far, my experience has been good, and it has definitely been my best school experience.So far, IBW has been the one to accomodate me with my 504 plan the best. Most teachers I know also allow students to listen to music while doing work, which is one of the things I haven’t seen in other schools.As for the phone policy, a new one has been made this year, where all students are required to put their phone in the “phone jail” (just a caddy), but some teachers are really lenient about it and just let you keep it in your pocket/bag.The schools prioritization on mental health has skyrocketed! There are many resources for everyone around the building and on the website. The first unit in Health 1 is about mental/emotional health, which is neat to see.As for equity between students, I believe it’s definitely gotten better throughout the years, but it’s not perfect. They have put lots of effort into trying to make everyone feel accepted regardless of race, gender identity, ethnicity, etc. and for the most part it’s worked, but there are still people throwing out slurs in the halls like it’s nothing.The teachers are great, but as for every school, some are better than others. From what I noticed, almost all teachers put in a great amount of effort to teach every student regardless of their level of understanding. There are “flex” times twice in a row every two(?) weeks, where students can go to their teachers classrooms and get extra help. When a student is struggling, from what I’ve observed, it’s not always the teachers fault.Most students are usually engaged in class, but I noticed maybe like 30% of students are struggling in class or just not paying attention at all. And it’s probably something going on with their personal life, but those students are usually not engaged in class unless its a hands on activity or game. I think more teachers should start implementing these into their classwork.IBW has a HUGE amount of extracurricular activities, from 50+ clubs (from BSU to speech and debate to bird watching), different sports per season, fine/performing arts, and at least one elective for just about everyone. IBW encourages you to be active in the community, which is something that I love. Overall, I would reccommend IBW. The college readiness is great (love my cce teacher!), the community is great, and I’m excited to begin my highschool years somewhere I can feel safe and accepted!

I went to JMS for a year and a half. It’s okay. But I never got any support for anything. The teachers are either good (not great) or terrible. Most if not all of my teachers were not patient with me at all. One of the things they promote the most is their Artful Learning principle, but it was almost never utilized other than in liberal arts classes (english & arts classes). The bullying here is horrible. The academics they taught us were not on the test, and most of it was junk that doesn’t tie into anything. Most of the students I knew got bad grades and hated their teachers. Please try and make this a better environment. I only liked the arts teachers.