Sunset School

Sunset School is an elementary school located in Coos Bay, Oregon, serving grades 3-6 with a total enrollment of 378 students. The school is part of the Coos Bay School District 9, which is ranked 84 out of 140 districts in the state and has a 2-star rating from SchoolDigger. Unfortunately, Sunset School has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Oregon elementary schools, with a ranking between 543 and 665 over the past 10 years and a 0-1 star rating from SchoolDigger.

The school faces several key challenges, including very high chronic absenteeism rates ranging from 34.3% to 45.8% over the past few years, significantly higher than the state average. Additionally, Sunset School's test scores in English Language Arts and Mathematics are consistently lower than the Coos Bay School District 9 average and the state average. For example, in 2024-2025, only 19-24.7% of Sunset School students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 26.5-32.2% for the district and 40.3-46.7% for the state. The math proficiency rates are even lower, ranging from 8.1% to 18.7% at Sunset School, compared to 15.1-30.8% for the district and 29.3-40.1% for the state. The school's performance is particularly low for certain student subgroups, such as White students, Special Education students, and Low Socioeconomic Status students.

Interestingly, Millicoma School and Lighthouse Charter School, which are also part of the Coos Bay School District 9, have higher test scores, lower chronic absenteeism, and better overall rankings than Sunset School. Additionally, Madison Elementary, located just 0.13 miles away, has significantly better performance metrics than Sunset School. The high rates of free and reduced-price lunch recipients (69.05% in 2023-2024) and the relatively high student-teacher ratio at Sunset School may be contributing factors to the school's poor academic performance, which has remained consistently low over the past 10 years.