Summary:
Lincoln Middle School is the only middle school in South Lane School District 45J3, serving grades 6 through 8 to 455 students in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Because it is the district's sole middle school, there is no other local middle school to compare it against — the most useful benchmarks are the district overall and the state of Oregon. The district itself ranks 88th of 141 Oregon districts, or the 38th percentile, with a 2-star rating.
Achievement is the central concern. In 2025-2026, 19.1% of Lincoln students were proficient in English language arts, 15.4% in math, and just 5.9% in science, compared with district rates of 32.9%, 24.7%, and 16.5%, and state rates of 43.8%, 32.9%, and 30.6%. Science is by far the weakest area: only about 1 in 17 eighth graders meets the standard, versus about 1 in 3 students statewide. Over three years the school has slid from 249th to 347th of 371 Oregon schools, with its star rating falling from 2 to 0. Seventh grade is the strongest group in the building, at 23.6% proficient in ELA and 19.5% in math — the math result is only 1.4 points below the district.
Two other figures matter for families. Chronic absenteeism is 29.3%, better than Oregon's 33.5% but slightly above the district's 27.2%, so attendance does not appear to be the main explanation for the low test scores. Meanwhile, 63.5% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the district spends $19,836 per student at a 17.1-to-1 student-teacher ratio — a high-need school with substantial resources producing bottom-decile results. Parents may want to ask specifically about curriculum, instruction, and science programming.
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