Baker Middle School

Baker Middle School is a small, single-building rural middle school in Baker City, Oregon, in Baker County in eastern Oregon, serving grades 7–8 with 226 students — roughly 113 per grade. It is part of Baker School District 5J, which is rated 4 stars and ranks 43rd of 141 Oregon districts (70th percentile).

The central thing to know is that the district's strong rating is not being earned by this school. Baker Middle ranks 219th of 371 Oregon middle schools (41st percentile, 2 stars) for 2025–26. It peaked at 78th percentile in 2021–22, slid for three straight years, and has now flattened out, which suggests the decline may have stopped. The closest comparison available is South Baker Intermediate School (grades 4–6, 268 students, half a mile away, and the school that feeds into Baker Middle). Baker Middle outperforms that feeder school in every subject: reading 36.8% vs. 32.3%, math 28.9% vs. 18.2%, and science 25.9% vs. 23.0% — even though it serves a poorer population (84.1% free/reduced lunch vs. 81.7%).

Its weaknesses are concentrated rather than school-wide. Seventh-grade reading is a healthy 43.1%, but eighth-grade reading drops to 30.6% — a 12.5-point gap between consecutive grades. Science is the other soft spot: the school's 25.9% sits well below both the district (37.8%) and the state (30.6%). There are real bright spots, too. Chronic absenteeism has fallen from 42.9% to 30.8%, now better than the state's 33.5%. And students with disabilities rank far above the school's overall standing — 77th percentile (4 stars) in 2024–25 — suggesting genuine strength in targeted support. Male students, however, trail female students by a wide margin (35th vs. 51st percentile), and the general-education mainstream is what pulls the overall number down.