Summary
Jackson Elementary School is a K–5 school with 321 students in Medford, Oregon, part of Medford School District 549C. For families looking at this school, the most important headline is that it ranks near the bottom of Oregon elementary schools: 656th out of 709 in 2025-26, the 7th percentile with 0 stars, and it has never reached the 20th percentile in a decade of rankings. Its proficiency rates are low: 19.4% in English language arts, 20.5% in math, and 12.8% in science, all below district and state averages. Chronic absenteeism is 36.7%, above both district and state.
The most striking comparison is with nearby Hoover Elementary School, 2.6 miles away and in the same district. It serves a similarly high-poverty student body but posts 64.9% ELA, 63.4% math, and 70.1% science, with a 91st-percentile rank. It does so with larger classes and lower per-student spending than Jackson. Jackson actually has the lowest student-to-teacher ratio in its comparison group (15.0) and spends $18,483 per student, more than Hoover’s $16,250, so resources and class size do not explain the gap. Attendance is a strong pattern: Hoover’s chronic absenteeism is 17.0%, while several schools near 40%—including Washington, Oak Grove, and Wilson—sit in the 9th–21st percentile range.
Jackson’s deepest subject weakness is science, where 12.8% is the lowest among nearby schools, while Jefferson and Kennedy do notably better. Its relative bright spot is 4th-grade math at 29.5%, about 9 points below the state, but 3rd-grade ELA is a large hole at 12.5% versus 41.5% statewide. The school has improved since 2023-24, when it ranked in the 3rd percentile, but attendance regressed from 33.1% chronic absenteeism in 2023-24 to 36.7% in 2024-25. Subgroup results also show uneven support: English Language Learners ranked at the 4th percentile in 2025-26, female students at the 5th percentile, and special education students fell to the 6th percentile. For parents, the data point most clearly to attendance and literacy/science instruction as the highest-leverage areas, not a lack of funding or small class sizes.
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