Summary:
Molalla, Oregon is served by five public schools in the Molalla River School District 35 — one high school, one middle school, and three elementary schools, one of which is a K–8 academy — enrolling 2,189 students combined. The district ranks 103 of 141 in Oregon, at the 27th percentile with 1 star, but individual schools vary widely in both academics and attendance.
Rural Dell Elementary School is the clear academic standout, leading all Molalla schools in all-grade ELA (40.3%), math (37.8%), and science (26.7%), and it is the only school above the state in any all-grade subject — math, at 37.8% versus the state's 32.9%. It also has the lowest free/reduced lunch rate at 52.99%. Molalla River Academy has the best attendance, with chronic absenteeism at 22.8% compared to the district's 35.8% and the state's 33.5%, and its rank climbed from the 10th percentile to the 35th; however, its all-grade scores remain below district and state, and its 5th-grade math is under 5%. Its per-student spending, $8,450, is far below every other school.
Three schools show pressing concerns. Molalla Elementary School has the lowest rank (14th percentile), the highest chronic absenteeism (42.7%), and the lowest all-grade ELA (25.5%) and science (13.5%). Molalla High School fell from about the 60th percentile with 3 stars to the 18th percentile with 1 star, and its 78.5% graduation rate trails the state's 83.0%. Molalla River Middle School declined from the 56th to the 21st percentile. Science is the weakest subject citywide: every school is below the state's 30.6%.
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