Original Research by School Decision on Holla School
HOLLA School is a charter school in Portland, Oregon, serving kindergarten through third grade. It operates as part of the Reynolds School District 7, but with the independence that charter status grants. The school is small, enrolling roughly a few dozen students across four grade levels. The student body is majority Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and a notable share of students who identify as two or more races. A small number of American Indian or Alaska Native students are also enrolled. The school serves a community where the vast majority of students come from low-income households, as reflected in the free- or reduced-price meal eligibility rate.
State testing data for the most recent school year was not available for either math or English language arts in any grade. For a school that teaches only up to third grade, testing is limited to a single tested grade, and the data here is simply absent. Without it, there is no direct measure of academic performance from state assessments. A parent interested in student achievement would need to look elsewhere—perhaps at the school’s own assessments or by speaking with the school directly about how it tracks progress.
The school’s charter status means it has its own governance and may offer a distinct educational approach, though the data does not describe the specific program or philosophy. The absence of program offerings, course access, or staffing information in the data means there is little publicly available detail about the curriculum or teacher qualifications beyond what the school itself provides. The same applies to discipline and attendance records, which are not reported here.
Because HOLLA School ends at third grade, families must plan for a transition to a new school for fourth grade and beyond. That next school could be another charter, a traditional public school within the Reynolds district, or a private option. The Reynolds School District, which oversees the area, showed no recent major changes or initiatives in the publicly available record, so the district context is stable but not particularly informative about what comes next for these students.
The school is located in Portland, Oregon’s largest city and a major Pacific Northwest metropolitan center. The Portland area is known for its walkable downtown, extensive public transit, and a mix of dense urban neighborhoods and residential districts. The economy is driven by technology, athletic and outdoor brands, healthcare, and shipping. Housing costs have risen significantly over the past several decades, and the city has experienced gentrification, particularly affecting historically Black neighborhoods in North and Northeast Portland. The school’s address on SE Stark Street places it in the eastern part of the city, an area with a mix of older commercial corridors and residential streets.
For a parent considering this school, the key facts are its small size, its early-elementary-only grade span, its high concentration of students from low-income families, and the absence of state testing data. The charter structure may offer a distinctive program, but without more detail in the public record, that remains an open question. A family would need to visit, talk to staff, and ask about how the school measures learning and prepares students for the transition to fourth grade. The Portland setting provides a broad urban environment with many cultural and civic resources, but the school’s immediate neighborhood context is not detailed in the available data. Overall, HOLLA School is a small, early-elementary charter serving a predominantly Black and Hispanic, low-income student body, with no recent state test results to consult.
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