Middle Schools in Jefferson County School District 509J

Middle Schools in Jefferson County School District 509J consist of a single school serving grades 6–8: Jefferson County Middle School, located at 1180 SE Kemper Way in Madras, Oregon, with 426 students enrolled. Because it is the only middle school in the district, it carries the entire middle-level profile for the area, and comparisons below are between the school, its district, and the state of Oregon rather than between peer schools.

Academically, the school performs above district averages in most tested areas but well below state averages. All-grades English Language Arts proficiency is 26.5%, compared with 25.6% in the district and 43.8% statewide. Math is 16.0% proficient versus 15.9% in the district and 32.9% statewide, and science is 13.1% versus 14.3% in the district and 30.6% statewide. The strongest results are in 7th grade ELA at 31.0% and 8th grade ELA at 30.3%, both more than 6 points above district averages. The weakest area is 6th grade ELA at 18.8%, which is 23.0 points below the state, and math stays low across every grade, ranging from 13.3% in 6th grade to 18.8% in 7th grade. Chronic absenteeism, at 33.2%, is a relative bright spot: it is 8.1 points better than the district’s 41.3% and slightly better than the state’s 33.5%.

Other context matters for families. Free/reduced lunch is reported at 100.23%, indicating effectively universal economic need, and the school spends $24,022 per student with a 16.8:1 student-teacher ratio. Statewide rank has declined over three reported years, from 253 of 371 and the 32nd percentile in 2023–2024, to 286 of 368 and the 22nd percentile in 2024–2025, to 325 of 371 and the 12th percentile in 2025–2026, with the star rating dropping from 2 stars to 1 star. The district overall ranks 130 of 141 in Oregon at the 8th percentile.