Best Elementary Schools in Portland, OR

Portland's elementary school data covers 105 schools inside the city limits, most of them K-5 but with roughly 17 K-8 or PK-8 campuses mixed in, spread across nine providers led by Portland School District 1J (60 schools), Beaverton School District 48J (14) and David Douglas School District 40 (10). The city contains the state's entire achievement range in one place: all-grades ELA runs from 9.5% to 88.4%, math from under 5% to 88.2%, and science from under 5% to 77.0%. Some figures are suppressed for privacy or reported as bounds ("at least 95%", "under 5%") and should be read that way.

The top of the state ranking belongs to this city. Winterhaven School is 1st of 709 Oregon schools, with 88.2% math and 77.0% science — the best in the file — and Riverdale Grade School ranks 5th in a district ranked 1st of 141. Forest Park Elementary School posts the highest ELA (88.4) but science 33 points lower. High-poverty standouts include Arthur Academy and Portland Arthur Academy Charter School, which beat their district averages by wide margins and record the lowest chronic absenteeism in the file (8.0%). Cherry Park Elementary School has climbed from 500th to 413th. At the bottom, Alder Elementary School ranks 709th, with math and science under 5%.

Chronic absenteeism is the clearest signal in the data: it ranges from 8.0% to 56.9% at Boise-Eliot Elementary School, and nearly every school above roughly 40% absenteeism falls below 30% ELA proficiency. Reynolds School District 7 concentrates the struggle, with seven of its eight schools in the bottom 53 statewide. Per-student spending is highest at the lowest-performing schools, reflecting need-based funding rather than a verdict on money. Science lags ELA at most high performers, and grade-level swings inside a single school can be larger than gaps between schools.