Best High Schools in Portland, IN

Portland, Indiana has just one high school in this data set: Jay County Junior/Senior High School, which serves grades 7–12 and enrolls 1,207 students as part of Jay School Corporation. Because it is the only school listed for the city, there are no in-town school-to-school comparisons to make; the most useful benchmarks are the district, the state, and the school's own prior years. The district ranks 147 of 374 in Indiana (61st percentile, 3 stars). More than half of students come from low-income backgrounds based on the 52.2% free/reduced lunch rate, per-student spending is $11,443, and the student-teacher ratio is 14.2.

The school's clearest strengths are its upward trajectory and its graduation results. Its state rank improved from 213 of 432 (51st percentile) in 2023–2024 to 148 of 415 (64th percentile) in 2025–2026, though the star rating held steady at 3 stars. The graduation rate was 93.7% in 2024–2025 — equal to the district and 4.0 percentage points above the state's 89.7%. Biology End-of-Course proficiency rose from 47.34% to 62.5%, a gain of 15.16 percentage points, and that 2024–2025 figure was already above the state's 45.6%. In 2025–2026, 7th-grade math was another bright spot at 43.06%, above the state's 35.9%. All-grade ILEARN scores also improved, with ELA rising from 27.17% to 34.46% and math from 33.02% to 35.73%, narrowing the gaps to the district.

The biggest concern is chronic absenteeism: 29.6% of students in 2024–2025, compared with 19.0% in the district and 16.7% statewide — nearly 1.8 times the state rate. Test results are mixed by grade and subject. In 2025–2026, 8th-grade ELA was 28.02% against a state rate of 44%, and 8th-grade math was 28.37% versus 34.2%. SAT results were below state in both sections: 46.96% versus 51.9% in Evidence-based Reading and Writing, and 22.1% versus 25.6% in Mathematics, with ERW slipping slightly year over year. Overall, this is a school making real progress in rank, graduation, 7th-grade math, and Biology while still working to close gaps in attendance, 8th-grade achievement, and SAT performance.