Students with learning disabilities have tremendous potential to achieve. But right now one in three do not finish high school. There are bright, talented children as young as third grade who have already begun skipping school.
We need to reach struggling students early — before discouragement sets in and becomes a way of life.
The Shadow Project does just that. Our program builds habits for success in boys and girls grades K-8 and gets them excited about learning.
Honored in 2008 by the Oregon Education Association, The Shadow Project provides teachers a free goal-setting program to use right in their classrooms – a program proven to help students with learning challenges become more successful in school.
The Shadow Project was started in 1997 by a Portland mom whose son has learning challenges. Since then, it has helped 5,500 boys and girls in grades K-8 who:
- Spend one or more periods a day in a special education classroom
- Have been diagnosed with one or more disabilities, including ADHD, dyslexia, autism, speech and language disorders, or emotional disorders
- Typically read and write a minimum of two years below grade level
- Typically come from homes at or below poverty level
The Shadow Project serves 1,350 students grades in Portland, Yamhill County, and Hillsboro. There is a waiting list in Portland of 330 students, and we have requests for the program from 25 additional communities.
Download an easy-to-print fact sheet to give to your family and friends.
Our hope is that one day no more children will give up on school because they feel unable to learn.