Best Public Schools in Portland, OR

Portland, Oregon's school landscape in this data set includes roughly 150 schools — 105 elementary, 25 middle, 17 high schools and 3 alternative programs — spread across Portland School District 1J (rank 12 of 141, 5 stars), Beaverton School District 48J (rank 19 of 141, 4 stars), Riverdale School District 51J (rank 1 of 141, 5 stars), and the East Portland districts of David Douglas School District 40, Reynolds School District 7, Centennial School District 28J and Parkrose School District 3, plus charter, alternative and ESD programs.

At the top, Winterhaven School ranks #1 of 709 elementary and K-8 schools, followed by Riverdale Grade School (#5), Rieke Elementary School (#7), Forest Park Elementary School (#8), Alameda Elementary School (#9) and Glencoe Elementary School (#10). Among middle schools, Sellwood Middle School ranks #8 of 371, Stoller Middle School #15 and Gray Middle School #16. Riverdale High School leads high schools at #4 of 271, with Cleveland High School (#19), Lincoln High School (#28) and Grant High School (#40) also strong.

Statewide benchmarks are ELA 43.8% proficient, math 32.9% and science 30.6%, with an 83.0% graduation rate and 33.5% chronic absenteeism. Top performers far exceed those marks: Winterhaven School posts ELA 86.5 and math 88.2, and Riverdale High School graduates 100.0% of students with ELA 83.9 and science 87.1. Attendance separates schools sharply — Portland Arthur Academy Charter School (8.0%), Findley Elementary (9.2%) and Arthur Academy (9.3%) have the lowest chronic absenteeism, while Parkrose High School (52.7%), Roosevelt High School (53.8%), Jefferson High School (63.5%) and Alliance High School (93.8%) report the highest. Arthur Academy shows high poverty need not mean low achievement: with free/reduced lunch reported at 100%, it still posts ELA 68.8, math 48.4 and science 57.9. Spending and small classes do not guarantee results — Harrison Park School spends $39,323 per student with moderate scores, while Sauvie Island School spends $7,713 and ranks 44 of 709.