Milwaukie High School

Milwaukie High School is a 9–12 comprehensive high school serving 874 students in Milwaukie, Oregon, part of North Clackamas School District 12. It ranks 220th of 271 Oregon high schools (19th percentile, 1 star) in 2025–26, a steep fall from 2015–16, when it stood at 99th of 292 (66th percentile). Its district ranks 48th of 141 statewide, so the school sits well below the district it belongs to, and it has spent the past four years in the bottom fifth of Oregon high schools.

Nearly half the student body — 48.5% — is chronically absent, compared with 30.5% in the district and 33.5% statewide. Math is the academic weak point: 10.9% of students are proficient, about one-third of the state rate (32.9%). ELA (35.6%) and science (18.0%) also trail district and state averages, though by smaller margins. On the positive side, the graduation rate has climbed from 73.7% to 82.1% over recent years and now sits just 0.9 points below the state — notable given the attendance picture. The school spends $25,289 per student, high among nearby schools, and its 16.8 students per teacher is a better ratio than several comparable high schools, so staffing and funding are not the obvious constraints.

The sharpest comparison is right next door: Milwaukie Academy of the Arts, 0.07 miles away in the same district, posts 76.3% ELA proficiency, 60.7% science, and a 92.8% graduation rate on less than half the per-student spending, though its intake population is likely quite different. Within the district, Putnam High School graduates 90.9% and reaches 22.5% in math. Within roughly four miles sit some of Oregon's top-ranked high schools, including Riverdale High School, Lakeridge High School, and Lake Oswego High School. For families, attendance is the metric most worth watching, since daily instructional loss likely feeds directly into the low math proficiency.