Siuslaw Middle School

Siuslaw Middle School in Florence, Oregon — a coastal community in Lane County — serves grades 6 through 8 with 275 students as part of Siuslaw School District 97J. For 2025–2026 the school holds 2 stars, ranking 210th of 371 Oregon middle schools (43rd percentile). No other schools sit within 20 miles, so the useful comparisons are against the district and the state. That headline number understates a real long-term improvement: the school spent 2014–15 through 2016–17 at the 23rd percentile with 1 star, climbed to a peak of 49th percentile in 2023–24, and has since plateaued rather than fallen.

Academically, the school performs modestly below Oregon averages. In 2025–2026, 37.7% of students were proficient in English language arts (state: 43.8%) and 28.0% in math (state: 32.9%), while science landed essentially even with the state at 30.3%. The weak spot is 6th-grade reading, where 31.4% proficiency trails the state by 10.4 points — more than triple the school's overall reading gap. Upper grades are stronger: 8th-grade science came in 2.6 points above the state, and 8th-grade math exactly at it. Attendance is the most concerning relative figure. Chronic absenteeism reached 39.2% in 2024–25, up 6 points in a single year, above both the district (36.9%) and the state (33.5%) — a reversal from 2022–23, when the school was better than Oregon as a whole.

Student groups tell a mixed story. Low-income students, roughly four-fifths of enrollment, rank in the 65th percentile (3 stars) — above the school's own standing — while students with disabilities sit in the bottom decile (8th percentile in 2024–25, 4th percentile the year before), a real equity concern. Gifted students slipped from the 39th to the 18th percentile. Per-pupil spending is high at $23,266 but fell about 10% in a year, and the student-teacher ratio rose from 11.1 to 13.8. The free/reduced-lunch share jumped to 81.82%, likely a change in program accounting rather than a shift in families. Bottom line: a mid-pack school that has genuinely improved, serves its low-income students comparatively well, and needs work on 6th-grade reading, special education, and attendance.