Chinese Immersion

Updated November 2025

PPS has offered Chinese Dual Language Immersion Programs for more than two decades.

Woodstock Elementary offered the first Chinese Immersion program in 1998. Students at Woodstock continue to Harrison Park Middle School and go on to Cleveland High School for advanced level courses.

In 2014, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School began offering Chinese Immersion in response to parents who wanted a pathway for their children who had attended the Chinese Immersion preschool program through Albina HeadStart. In the fall of 2019, the inaugural class of MLK Jr. students moved on to 6th - 8th grades at Harriet Tubman Middle School. In the 2022-2023 school year, the students went on to Jefferson High School for continued DLI studies. 

The third Chinese Immersion program is hosted at Clark Elementary School in Southeast Portland. This program started in 2016. The students moved on to Harrison Park Middle School in the 2022-2023 school year. In the 2025-26 school year, students will start at Cleveland High School to continue Chinese language studies.

Here is an article from the Center for Global Education highlighting the Chinese Immersion Program at Portland Public Schools.