Malin Elementary School

Malin Elementary School is a small, rural K–6 school in Malin, Oregon (Klamath County) serving 126 students, the smallest enrollment among its nearby peers. It's part of the Klamath County School District, which ranks 78th of 141 Oregon districts (45th percentile, 2 stars), yet the school itself performs noticeably better than that. In 2025–2026 it ranked 278th of 709 Oregon elementary schools (61st percentile, 3 stars) — the fifth straight year at or above the 55th percentile, and a long climb from the 24th percentile (1 star) in 2015–2016.

In reading and math, Malin beats both its district and the state. Its English language arts proficiency is 52.1% (district 41.1%, state 43.8%), and math is 43.8% (district 28.3%, state 32.9%) — the highest math result among the four nearby schools compared here. For comparison, Merrill Elementary School (about 10 miles away) posts 54.5% in ELA and 42.2% in math, while Henley Elementary School (about 17 miles away) posts 38.3% and 25.4%, and Bonanza Elementary School (about 13 miles away) posts 37.1% and 36.3%. All four schools serve similar high-poverty populations, so these gaps reflect school performance rather than student demographics. Grade-level results swing widely (fourth grade hit 72.2% in both subjects; fifth grade trailed at 30% ELA and 25% math), which is normal in a school this small.

Attendance is a strength: chronic absenteeism is 16.4%, less than half Oregon's 33.5%, though it rose from 10.9% the year before — the trend to watch. Class sizes are the smallest of the peer group (12.6 students per teacher) with the highest per-student spending ($23,131). Science is the clear weak spot at 15.8% proficient versus the state's 30.6%, but that comes from a single small fifth-grade group, so it shouldn't be read as a schoolwide science problem.