Pelican Elementary School

Pelican Elementary School is a K–5 school of 257 students in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and the smallest of the four comprehensive elementaries in Klamath Falls City Schools, drawing from a near-universally low-income catchment area.

Math is this school's clear strength and the only subject where it beats the state: 36.4% of all grades met math standards in 2025-26, versus 29.0% in the district and 32.9% statewide. Fourth grade math (46.3%) is a standout, well above both district and state. Reading and science are the weak spots — all-grades English Language Arts came in at 27.9% (district 39.2%, state 43.8%), with 3rd grade ELA at just 18.6%, and 5th grade science at 24.4% against a district figure of 35.5%. Families should also know the school's recent trajectory: after climbing to the 73rd percentile and 4 stars in 2023-24, it fell to the 34th percentile and 2 stars in 2025-26, a decline spread across several student groups rather than one.

Attendance is a genuine, sustained bright spot. Chronic absenteeism was 28.9% in 2024-25 — better than both the district (42.4%) and the state (33.5%) — and has improved every year since 2021-22. Spending ($22,665 per student) and class size (19.7 students per teacher) are mid-pack locally, and they don't predict results here: Mills Elementary School spends the most in the city district and posts the weakest outcomes, while Roosevelt Elementary School, serving a comparable population with slightly lower per-pupil spending, reaches 49.2% math and 42.9% science. Meanwhile Joseph Conger Elementary School has overtaken Pelican after trailing it a year earlier. The nearby comparison suggests Pelican's results aren't capped by its demographics or resources.