Windy River Elementary School

Windy River Elementary School in Boardman, OR is a middle school serving 241 students in grades 4–6, part of Morrow School District 1, which ranks 74th of 141 Oregon districts. About 67.63% of its students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–25, and per-student spending was $19,706, up from $15,877 in 2021–22. The student-teacher ratio improved to 14.1 from 15.1 in 2022–23.

Academically, Windy River's 2025–26 proficiency rates were 26.4% in English language arts, 22.8% in math, and just 5.2% in science — all below Oregon averages (43.8%, 32.9%, and 30.6%) and below the district in ELA and science. Science is the starkest gap: only about 1 in 20 students met the standard, compared with 14.9% at Irrigon Elementary School, which serves the same grades in the same district with a nearly identical free-lunch rate and outperforms Windy River in every subject. Grade 6 is a clear weak point: math proficiency is 16.0%, versus 31.3% at Irrigon and 43.8% at Armand Larive Middle School. Fourth-grade math is a bright spot at 30.5%, slightly above Irrigon's 29.3%, suggesting the decline comes later.

More than one in three students — 35.9% — were chronically absent in 2024–25, above the district (35.4%), the state (33.5%), and every nearby school listed here, including Clara Brownell Middle School (21.2%). Notably, Armand Larive spends about the same per student and serves a higher-poverty population yet posts much stronger ELA and math results, while Irrigon spends more and has smaller classes. Keep in mind that Clara Brownell serves grades 7–8, so comparisons with it are not perfectly aligned.