Central Curry School District 1

Central Curry School District 1 is a two-school district on the Oregon coast serving roughly 400 students from PK through 12th grade — Riley Creek Elementary School covers PK–6 and Gold Beach Junior/Senior High School covers 7–12, with no separate middle school in between. The district as a whole ranks 26th of 141 Oregon districts (82nd percentile, 4 stars), and poverty is very high at both campuses: 91.04% of students at Riley Creek and 93.09% at Gold Beach qualify for free or reduced lunch. Per-student spending is high as well — $20,275 at the elementary school and $21,711 at the high school, which also has the lower student-teacher ratio (14.4 vs. 16.0).

Gold Beach Junior/Senior High School is the academic standout. In 2025–2026, 59.2% of its students were proficient in English Language Arts (vs. 43.8% statewide) and 48.3% in science (vs. 30.6% statewide), and 7th grade results were exceptional — 77.8% in ELA and 61.1% in math. But the picture is mixed: only 10.0% of 11th graders were proficient in math (state: 22.9%), the graduation rate is 67.5% versus 83.0% statewide, and its ranking has slid from 4th of 258 schools (5 stars) in 2022–2023 to 86th of 271 (3 stars) now. Chronic absenteeism, at 32.9%, is slightly better than the state average.

Riley Creek Elementary School trails overall: 37.5% of students were proficient in ELA and 27.2% in math, both below state averages, with one genuine bright spot in 3rd grade math (50.0% vs. 41.3% statewide). Its weakest result is 6th grade math at 10.7% against a state average of 29.7%, and chronic absenteeism is 35.9%, above both district and state. In short, families here see a high school with strong reading and science outcomes but shaky upper-level math and graduation results, and an elementary school with a few bright spots that still has room to grow.