Summary:
North Clackamas School District 12 serves seven high schools, all covering grades 9–12, with a combined enrollment of 5,656 students. The district is ranked 48th of 141 in Oregon (66th percentile, 3 stars), but that average hides enormous variation: individual school ranks run from 20th of 271 to 265th of 271. Enrollment is concentrated in the four large comprehensive high schools, which together enroll about 84% of the district's high schoolers.
Two small schools lead academically. Clackamas Middle College ranks 20th of 271 (5 stars), posts the top ELA (82.4%) and math (40.0%) proficiency in the group, a 97.4% graduation rate, and just 11.1% chronic absenteeism. Milwaukie Academy of the Arts ranks 42nd of 271 (4 stars), has the best science score (60.7%), a 92.8% graduation rate, and achieves it on the lowest reported per-student spending ($11,803). Among the larger schools, Adrienne C. Nelson High School (90th of 271, 1,536 students, 94.9% graduation) and Clackamas High School (99th of 271) are the strongest; Clackamas High jumped from 221st to 99th in a single year.
Parents should know the gap between schools is wide. Putnam High School ranks 159th of 271. Milwaukie High School ranks 220th of 271, with an 82.1% graduation rate, 48.5% chronic absenteeism, and 10.9% math proficiency. New Urban High School ranks 265th of 271, with a 59.4% graduation rate, 78.3% chronic absenteeism, and 15.6% ELA proficiency. Higher spending does not line up with better results here, and student-teacher ratios and free/reduced-lunch data do not explain the differences either — free/reduced lunch is not reported for the two top small schools. Encouragingly, six of the seven schools improved their statewide percentile rank from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026.
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