Summary:
Wallowa Elementary School is the only elementary school in Wallowa School District 12, serving roughly 96 students in grades PK–5 in the small rural town of Wallowa, Oregon. It is a high-poverty building — 90.62% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch — and because it is the district's only elementary school, its grade-level results are also the district's elementary results. The broader district ranks 16th of 141 Oregon districts (89th percentile, 4 stars), placing it in the state's top decile.
The school has improved sharply in recent years. Its state rank rose from 414th of 710 (42nd percentile, 2 stars) in 2023-2024 to 184th of 709 (74th percentile, 4 stars) in 2025-2026 — a 230-position climb, 174 of it in the most recent year. In 2025-2026, 56.8% of students were proficient in English language arts (state: 43.8%) and 51.2% in math (state: 32.9%). The advantage over the state is largest in 3rd grade (+22.8 in ELA, +23.0 in math) and narrows by 5th grade. Science is the exception: 23.1% proficient, below the state's 30.8% for 5th grade.
Supporting indicators are strong. Chronic absenteeism was 19.1%, well below the district's 26.2% and the state's 33.5%, and per-pupil spending was $37,069 with an 11.2:1 student-to-teacher ratio — a generously resourced, small-class setting. The main caution is scale: with roughly 12–17 students tested per grade, one or two children can shift a grade-level percentage by several points, so the science result and the rank jump are best watched over the next few years rather than treated as settled.
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