Blog

BEF is honored to receive a Community Impact Grant from the Intel Foundation. Thanks to Intel’s commitment to K-12 education, workforce development, community aid, sustainability and tech for good, BEF can further our mission – to mobilize community resources to ensure our students have equitable opportunities to reach their brightest future.

This gift is part of Intel Foundation’s $3.43 million donation to 102 U.S. causes, including $1M in gifts to Oregon nonprofits. We appreciate their support and look forward to making a lasting impact in our community in 2024 and beyond.

Colorful signs reading — ¡NUESTRA BIBLIOTECA! — encourage all to explore Our Library, and dive into new multilingual books focused on strengthening reading comprehension, while reflecting students’ diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. New Multilingual Libraries at Meadow Park and Stoller middle schools are an exciting joint-venture, made possible through a Beaverton Education Foundation (BEF) Kids Count Grant.

“I was inspired by growing research linking home-language literacy with greater English comprehension and educational achievement,” said Erik Ortman, Stoller Spanish teacher. “Additionally, significant cognitive advantages have been identified in multilingual students, in comparison to peers who speak only one language.”

Both of their middle schools were serving an increasingly multilingual student body, educators at Meadow Park and Stoller worked together to imagine, stock and fill engaging spaces with collections of academically and culturally relevant reading materials that impacted nearly every student at both schools, including those who speak a different language at home, English language learners and Spanish-as-an-additional-language students.

“High-interest Spanish books have proven a good asset for students,” explained David Campos, Stoller Spanish language teacher. “In addition, enhanced access to high-interest, first-language materials has provided greater opportunities for skills transfer between first and second languages.” 

The library’s benefits can be felt throughout both schools. In traditional language arts classrooms, students now have access to popular selections as varied as Wonder, the Smile series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dogman. Children’s classics such as Curious George in Spanish are in high-demand as well, allowing recently arrived students and heritage speakers to better access content, increasing inclusivity, engagement and new language acquisition.

Book selections, which were curated by both schools’ staff and informed by students, are housed in the schools’ main libraries and language classrooms. The primary collections also feature author information, artwork, maps and much more. To facilitate library usage to its fullest, program participants have access to regular free, voluntary or guided reading in their home/target language. Materials in additional languages such as Japanese, Hebrew and Telugu are on the horizon and are based on the current ratios of English Language Learners enrolled at each school.

Generous support from our generous individual donors, like you, as well as foundation and business partners make Kids Count Grants possible. Thank you to First Tech Federal Credit Union, Genentech, Intel, Juan Young Trust, Meyer Memorial Trust, OCF Joseph E. Weston Fund and additional donors through advised funds at the Oregon Community Foundation.

Your support can make an impact. Provide Beaverton’s 39,000 students with even more programs like this in 2024.

Academic Coaches Tomi Kluver and Katrina Simkins-Moore recently introduced new phonics-based reading materials and saw their reading intervention students thrive. Eager for their students’ growth to continue, Kluver contacted the Beaverton Education Foundation (BEF) with a request – more decodable books to captivate their students and show that reading is fun – and BEF delivered.

“Decodable texts are the training wheels students often need to learn to read.” explained Kluver, adding, “But, teaching foundational decoding skills has been difficult, due to the current lack of tools in our elementary buildings.”

Decodable books encourage students to sound out words instead of predicting from other clues, like illustrations. The positive impact decodable reading has brought to reluctant readers has been inspiring. While a shift in language arts curriculum is underway, educators want to incorporate structured practice decoding words, and the joy it brings our young learners, into the classroom immediately. 

“I love my new books,” shared an excited young learner at Greenway Elementary. “And, now I can fill my classroom book box with them too.”  

Funding for Greenway’s decodable books project was made possible by BEF’s Anne Kelly Ofstun Tubby Fund. The Anne Kelly Ofstun Tubby Fund values the importance and need for academic excellence and opportunity for all students and provides financial assistance to support projects like yours through its annual review process. The Ofstun Tubby family recognizes the value of books as a key component of student success.

Thanks to our generous donors Beaverton Education Foundation has awarded $45,072 funding 33 classroom projects for the 2023-24 academic year.

Welcoming and Supporting Newcomers from Around the World

Beaver Acres Elementary
Students Served: 35
Recipients: Joshua Anderson & Chloe Thomason
Award: $400

The Beaver Acres Elementary counseling team is using art to unite students with a wide-range of backgrounds and create a sense of belonging and understanding within their differences. Thanks to our generous community’s funding for the group’s art supplies, Joshua and Chloe’s project will help students feel welcomed in their new environment, ultimately increasing attendance and academic success.

Striving Writers Learn to Use Writing Tools!

Beaver Acres Elementary
Students Served: 75
Recipients: Amy Rooney & Molly Kershaw
Award: $350

Students at Beaver Acres Elementary are now accessing the world using tools that accommodate learning challenges. New headphones with built-in microphones that hear student voices and share their stories provide an opportunity for voice typing, a much faster and more way to type than typing with their fingers. 

Keeping Calm with Peace Place Boxes

Beaver Acres Elementary
Students Served: 800
Recipients: Courtney Walker & Randi Little
Award: $925

Thanks to our generous community, Beaver Acres students are able to find appropriate ways to regulate themselves when they don’t have the vocabulary necessary to explain how they are feeling with new Peace Place Boxes for all 37 of our classrooms. Peace Places are an area in classrooms for students to sit and work through their big emotions without extra adult support or needing to leave the classroom. 

Apollos Are Up to the Challenge

Sunset High School
Students Served: 38
Recipient: Emily Arellano & Elisa Schor
Award: $2,005 

Funding provided in part by the Sunset PTO

Thanks to generous support from our community for the Beaverton’s Choice classroom project Our Apollos Are Up to the Challenge, Sunset High School students in the new Health and Human Performance class will strengthen their leadership and communication skills, and grow in the area of cooperation with a culminating assessment event at an Escape Room challenge.

Get Outside! Exploring Our Natural Resources at the Bonneville Dam

Findley Elementary
Students Served: 100
Recipients: Amy Clay, Terri Buckley, Kristin Antich & Ed Rodriguez
Award: $1,124

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative

Thanks to our generous community, Findley Elementary students will investigate local and state resources and how we use these resources to improve the quality of our lives throughout their 3rd grade year. With this Beaverton’s Choice classroom project, Get Outside! Exploring Our Natural Resources at the Bonneville Dam, a culminating trip to the Bonneville Dam gives a hands-on experience to reinforce all they have learned.

Bring Theater to Our 5th Graders!

Elmonica Elementary
Students Served: 90
Recipients: Megan Stauffer, Alicia Sypher & Alexis Bidou
Award: $700 

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative

Thanks to our generous community, Elmonica’s 5th graders can build their skills of self-regulation and view the world around them with a positive mindset through Oregon Children’s Theater In-School programming. With this Beaverton’s Choice classroom project, Bring Theater to Our 5th Graders, these future leaders will learn:

• Qualities that help them achieve personal and academic goals
• How to manage stress and difficult emotions
• How to make friends and build a strong community
• Healthy ways to resolve conflicts

Robots for Kinnaman Kids

Kinnaman Elementary
Students Served: 616
Recipient: Michael Reed
Award: $2,499 

Funding provided in part by the BEF Building STEAM 4 All initiative

Thanks to generous support from our community for the Beaverton’s Choice classroom project Robots for Kinnaman Kids, Kinnaman will be purchasing 15 new Sphero robots to educate the future engineers and computer scientists of Kinnaman! Students will gain valuable STEAM skills and experience. These are powerful, versatile robots that kids love to control and allow for continued teaching of robotics.

Magnetic Letters for Phonics Practice

Hazeldale Elementary
Students Served: 25
Recipient: Margaret Long
Award: $185

Hazeldale kindergarteners have new hands-on learning opportunities made possible thanks to our generous community. Margaret Long’s successful Magnetic Letters for Phonics Practice project funded magnetic letters, cookie trays and white board paddles to give students multiple avenues to learn, explore and try new skills that will help them become amazing, confident readers.

Novel Study for Bilingual Students in Dual Language Immersion

Whitford Middle School
Students Served: 52
Recipient: Shawn Parker
Award: $277

Seventh grade Language Arts students in Whitford’s Dual Language Program are participating in a shared literary experience, while reading “Le dicen Fregona,” by David Bowles. Shawn Parker’s Novel Study for Bilingual Students in Dual Language Immersion project funded a full classroom set to better facilitate rich discussions and makes a huge impact on the students’ academic experience. 

Help Sexton Mountain 5th Graders Take Note

Sexton Mountain Elementary School
Students Served: 90
Recipients: Michelle Brock, Dianne Dronkers & Jodie Kester
Award: $1,514

Funding provided in part by The Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund

Sexton Mountain fifth graders are learning to take note and identify authors’ key takeaways using engaging historical texts and books that are a part of OBOB (Oregon Battle of the Books) thanks to funding from our generous community for the Help Sexton Mountain 5th Graders Take Note project.

Scholastic Book Fair: Books for Kids!

William Walker Elementary School
Students Served: 550
Recipients: Rosanne Freer & Rich Feely
Award: $3,850

Funding provided in part by The Mike Osborne Memorial Award Fund and the William Walker PTC

William Walker delivered on their mission to provide high levels of learning and success for ALL students, thanks to our community’s support for their Books for Kids project. For the second year in a row, every student was able to purchase a brand new book at this fall’s Scholastic book fair, a luxury that many of their families cannot afford. 

Leap into Learning with SRC at Spectra Gymnastics!

Sexton Mountain Elementary School
Students Served: 30
Recipients: Ashlee Rice, Lora Dee & Christine Rossetti
Award: $500

Structured Routine Center (SRC) students at Sexton Mountain will safely explore, process and harness their energy during a fun-filled trip to an inclusive gymnastics studio, thanks to funding for their Leap into Learning project. Spectra Gymnastics provides instruction, trained staff and equipment to help SRC students impacted by a variety of disabilities and needs access instruction in motor and social emotional skills. 

Thanks to your generous contributions, the dollars raised are enabling enrichment programs in Beaverton schools that otherwise would not be possible. For current programs, and to begin your application, please visit Beaverton’s Choice, Beaverton Education Foundation’s online resource that brings community and classrooms together.

Participants in this summer’s Native Plants Youth Work Program signed up for a weeklong project, and delivered a garden that will last a lifetime. 

Work kicked off with preparations for the future space. Students first identified and removed invasive vegetation, then learned traditional ecological knowledge from a Cultural Analyst who works with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR). Made possible through support from BEF’s strategic partnership with Synopsys, the project was spearheaded by the district’s American Indian/Alaska Native Education Program team and culminated in a family celebration this fall.

The Native Plants Garden is part of a STEAM-focused curriculum and outreach partnership with the district’s American Indian/Alaska Native Education Program team, focused on the knowledge acquired by generations of indigenous and local peoples through direct contact with the environment.

“This garden is such a tangible, creative way to connect the knowledge of the past, while teaching hands-on skills to create a sustainable future,” said BEF Executive Director, Kristine Baggett. “BEF is proud to support the powerful work the team has done to engage our students with this project.”

Additional culturally-specific gardening knowledge was shared as plants were delivered by the CTGR Nursery and native-owned, 1855 Plants. Some sections of the garden were preserved for families and students to plant in cooler conditions and were part of this fall’s Culture Day at Terra Nova, the home to Beaverton’s Science and Sustainability program. 

Learn more about the other projects that made an impact last year in our 2022-23 Impact Report. 

Your support can help Beaverton’s 39,000 students thrive in 2024.