Best Public Schools in Foster, OR

Foster, Oregon has exactly one public school: Foster Elementary School, a K–6 building with 277 students at 5526 Poplar, part of Sweet Home School District 55. Because Foster has no middle school, high school, or alternative school in this data set, this single building is the town's entire local educational footprint, and students must leave Foster for secondary grades.

Results inside the building vary sharply by grade, so averages deserve caution. Third grade is the bright spot: 51.1% proficient in ELA (9.6 points above the state) and 44.4% in math (3.1 points above the state) — the only grade beating the state in both subjects. Fifth grade science is the opposite extreme at 5.1% proficient, 25.7 points below the state and 18.4 points below the district, meaning roughly 1 in 20 fifth graders met the standard. Sixth grade math (29.8%) is essentially level with the state, while 4th and 5th grade ELA and math sit 13–25 points below it. Overall ELA (36.9%) is nearly identical to the district's 37.4%, but that average masks a 34.4-point internal math spread between 3rd grade (44.4%) and 5th grade (10.0%).

The school's state rank has fallen from 325 of 710 (54th percentile, 3 stars) in 2023-24 to 490 of 709 (31st percentile, 2 stars) in 2025-26. Chronic absenteeism is 42.1% — above the district's 40.2% and 8.6 points above the state — and 75.09% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, with $15,140 spent per student. Against its own district, Foster is nearly level in ELA (−0.5) and modestly behind in math (−3.8) but far behind in science (−15.7), so its underperformance is concentrated in science and upper-grade math rather than broad literacy. With roughly 40 students per grade, a handful of students can move these percentages noticeably.