Summary
Washington Elementary School is a K–5 school serving 420 students at 1205 SE Byers Ave in Pendleton, Oregon, a small city in Umatilla County in the state's eastern interior, and it is the largest of the three K–5 elementary schools in Pendleton School District 16. Statewide it ranks 512th of 709 Oregon elementary schools (28th percentile, 1 star) for 2025–26, inside a district that ranks 110th of 141 (22nd percentile, 1 star), and it has never earned more than 2 stars in the ten ranked years on record.
Academically, Washington posts 38.1% proficiency in English language arts, 22.3% in math, and 22.3% in science — below Oregon on all three (43.8 / 32.9 / 30.6) and mid-pack among nearby schools. The school's reading-to-math gap is 15.8 points, wider than the district's 12.9 and the state's 10.9. Fifth-grade reading is a real bright spot at 49.5%, above both the district and the state, but fifth-grade math is 12.0%, the lowest in the district. The most useful local comparison is McKay Creek Elementary School, which serves a similar population, spends less per student, has larger classes, and still ranks in the 62nd percentile with 3 stars. Sherwood Heights Elementary School looks much like Washington: similar size, spending, class size, and the same 1-star rating.
Two other things stand out for parents. First, chronic absenteeism fell from 41.4% in 2021–22 to 25.4% in 2024–25, now better than both the district (33.3%) and the state (33.5%), though still behind McKay Creek (14.1%). Second, Washington spends $17,952 per student, the most of the district's K–5 schools, up about 14% since 2021–22. Among groups with enough data to be meaningful, low-income students rank at the 42nd percentile, above the school overall, while special education students have slipped from the 69th percentile in 2023–24 to the 32nd in 2025–26. A note on the numbers: the free/reduced-lunch rate jumped to about 83% across all three district elementaries at once, which reflects a district-wide eligibility or meal-program change rather than a real shift in student need. Overall, this is a long-standing lower-quartile school whose clearest instructional challenge is mathematics and science, not literacy or engagement.
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