Summary:
Jacksonville, Oregon is home to just two public schools — Jacksonville Elementary School (grades K–5, 328 students) and Ruch Outdoor Community School (grades K–8, 197 students) — both classified as elementary and both part of Medford School District 549C in the 97530 ZIP code, enrolling 525 students combined. Ruch is the city's only public provider for grades 6, 7 and 8.
Jacksonville Elementary is the clear academic standout: ranked 112th of 709 Oregon elementary schools (84th percentile, 4 stars), after two prior years at 5 stars. It outperforms the district and the state in all three tested subjects — ELA 55.5%, math 60.9%, science 48.9% — and its math proficiency is more than double its own district's 29.6%. Its 4th grade math result of 71.7% is the single highest figure in the data set, and math here exceeds ELA, reversing the pattern seen at the state level and at Ruch.
Ruch is more modest but steady — 3 stars across three straight years — with a genuinely strong finish: 8th grade ELA at 70% (28.5 points above the state) and 8th grade math at 40%. Its weak point is 6th grade math at 21.4%, the lowest figure in the data and the only one below both district and state benchmarks. The two schools share nearly identical poverty rates (87.5% vs 87.31%) and student–teacher ratios (17.7 vs 17.9), yet Jacksonville spends $29,276 per student versus $19,536 at Ruch — roughly 50% more — while averaging about 14 points higher proficiency. Jacksonville also has lower chronic absenteeism (32.7% vs 37.4%).
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