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Multilingual & Multicultural Center

Portland Public Schools' Multilingual & Multicultural Center provides support for multilingual students and families through registration assistance for new students, language access for families who need translation and interpretation services, parent orientation sessions for new arrivals to the United States, parent workshop sessions, and Make It Happen - a college readiness program for multilingual students.

What We Do

Family Welcome
Center

Support for families who are adjusting to a new city by assisting with registering their children for school.
 

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Language
Access

Outreach and services for limited English-speaking parents through a variety of ways including translation and interpretation services.

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Make It
Happen

College readiness program that helps multilingual students build competitive academic profiles for college admission and financial aid.

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Demographics 

Over the years, Portland Public Schools' multilingual student population has grown exponentially and become increasingly more diverse. Currently, the district has over 2,300 students who come from homes where over 60 different languages are spoken. These students represent about 34% of Portland Public Schools’ total enrollment. Over 1,400 of these students are identified as English Language Learners.

Mission

The Portland Public Schools’ Multilingual & Multicultural Center builds relationships among families, educators, and the community to promote the healthy development and academic achievement of every learner. 

History

Portland Public Schools' education program for English Language Learners began in 1980 with approximately fifty K-12 students from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The first program was partially funded through a federal grant which allowed the district to design an effective educational program and develop teaching and learning materials appropriate to the needs of the students. Since then, Portland's multilingual community has grown exponentially and become increasingly more diverse. Currently, there are approximately 2,300 language minority students in the District who speak over 60 different languages. Of these, 1,600 students are English language learners. For more information about this, see our Demographic Data.

Today, the Multilingual and Multicultural Center is a multi-faceted organization supporting multilingual students and families throughout the school system.