Patrick Burk

PATRICK BURK, MLC principal from 1991 to 1993, prepared this very welcome reminiscence in 2018 but submitted it just too late for inclusion in the 50th Anniversary publication. We are pleased to include it here at last.

Although, unfortunately, the Oregon Legislature eventually moved away from this very creative model for the state, it is a testament to the original MLC vision, and to the continuing staff and community commitment to personalized, engaged learning, that these activities continue at MLC today. I have always felt privileged that I had the opportunity to be a part of the MLC community. In my experience, MLC permanently transforms students, staff and parents in the ways they understand learning and community, even when they are no longer directly connected with the school.

At least, that is what happened to me. Because of the work at MLC, I was asked to come into the central office of PPS in 1992 to manage district-wide implementation of changes contained in HB3565. I continued to serve as Assistant Superintendent for Grants Management and Partnership Development and as Deputy Superintendent for Educational Policy. In 2002 I was asked to join the Oregon Department of Education as Assistant Superintendent for Federal Programs and then Chief Policy Officer. Since 2009 I have been on the faculty at Portland State University in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy in the Graduate School of Education.

(Patrick Burk, September 2018—former principal, 1991-93)

In correspondence in late 2025, Pat added fascinating detail about his career and arrival at MLC:

My doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago in the mid-70's was on alternative high schools and the interplay of teacher vs student understandings of the student role through lenses of race, gender and socio-economic status. I originally approached Portland Public Schools in 1976 because of a vacancy they posted for the principalship of Adams High School. It was started by three faculty members from Harvard, who moved to Portland to start the program. It had run for several years and some of the original leadership had intended to return to Boston. It was very unusual for an urban district to turn over its newest high school to a highly innovative and progressive model that attracted students both from the neighborhood and from across the city.

I was interviewed, but did not get the job. I was offered another job—vice principal at Washington High School—and came to Portland Public Schools in 1976. As I got to know the district, I was very impressed with the level of innovation, i.e., magnet schools, special focus programs, etc., that PPS was exercising. After Washington High School, I was principal at Buckman and at Hayhurst, both of which I led through the process of shifting from K-8 to K-5 models and the formation of Mt. Tabor Middle School and Robert Gray Middle School. From there, I was transferred to Ockley Green Middle School where we did some great work with Jefferson High School staff partners on the arts for middle-level students feeding the arts focus at Jefferson. We also created a school-within-a-school model within Ockley Green for students in need of more flexibility, more personal relationships and personally engaging structure. We called it "The Green House," with a great teacher and a highly successful program.

From Ockley Green, I was transferred to MLC. My supervisors at the time knew of my background in alternative programs. It looked like a good fit. However, my very first community meeting did not go well. I discovered that many felt they had been given a commitment by the district to be involved in selecting the new principal. I was not aware of this and that made it a challenge during my first days at MLC to build trust, believability and commitment to engagement and participation.

Former principal Patrick Burk, in a recent photo.

My time as principal at MLC overlapped a period of statewide change in Oregon schools with the passage of the Oregon Education Act for the 21st Century, better known as HB3565 (1991). This change moved the entire state toward evaluating student learning on the basis of projects, tasks, and portfolios of student work. While many found these changes to be dramatic and unfamiliar, MLC had used such assessment from its beginning.

MLC utilized then, as it does now, individualized projects, portfolios of student work, connections to the community and interdisciplinary work as evidence of student mastery of the course and grade level expectations. It also demonstrated how such information could be collected and shared with parents in meaningful conferences instead of the vagueness of a letter grade. As a result, MLC, although it was already well known, became more sought after by district and state leadership as an example of how project-based learning and evidence of student mastery could be collected and managed in ways that connected to individual student interests, as well as providing sound evidence of student growth toward academic standards.