Academics at Valley Catholic School

At Valley Catholic Early Learning School, academic learning is playful and exploratory. Children use their problem-solving skills, contribute their own ideas and strategies and pursue interests of their choosing. Teachers skillfully work in academic goals and objectives as they build on what each individual child is capable of doing while challenging them to try new ideas and activities. The children in every classroom are not left to their own devices throughout the day. Each child is allowed to grow in an environment of love, caring and learning where their development is closely monitored to assure individual educational success.

At Valley Catholic Elementary School, Catholic values guidethe curriculum from the moment a student walks in the door and begins their day with prayer. All K-5 students study Religion, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Health, Computer and Library Media Skills, Music, Physical Education, and Art. Students also participate in service and social justice projects and are challenged with increasing levels of responsibility as they advance through the grades.

Valley Catholic's Middle and High Schools offer a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum including, in the High School, 20 AP and Honors courses. Teachers value their subjects as great personal interests, not just as jobs. Classes are small. Teachers custom-make their classes, choosing their books and drawing on their experience to teach in ways they find effective, interesting, challenging and humane. The Middle and High Schools encourage freedom in teaching, not standardization. They are, as a result, great places for students to learn . . . and to enjoy learning.

Over 95 percent of Valley Catholic graduates continue their studies in college: plenty of Beavers, Pilots, Ducks, and Zags . . . and Princeton Tigers, Stanford Cardinal, Notre Dame Irish, Harvey Mudd Wallies, Northwestern Wildcats, West Point Black Knights, Whitman Missionaries, Washington Univ. St. Louis Bears, Carleton Knights, Georgetown Hoyas, Cal Bears, BC Eagles, Santa Clara Broncos, Oberlin Yeomen, Carnegie-Mellon Tartans, USC Trojans, Emory Eagles, Rice Owls.

Janet Rabe
Janet is a Portland State University graduate and has a 33 year association with Valley Catholic Elementary School. She has taught 7th grade homeroom, 8th grade math, 5th grade, and served as vice principal. She is presently teaching advanced math to grades 4-6. She holds memberships in the Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and has served on the Archdiocesan Math Curriculum Committee and the Hillsboro School District Math Committee.

Ed Braun
Ed Braun, Chairman of the Religion Department, earned a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Theology and Ethics from the University of Iowa. Before coming to Valley Catholic in 1992, Ed taught at Bishop Garcia Diego High School while studying non-western religious traditions at the University of California Santa Barbara.