Powers High School

Powers High School is a very small rural public school in Powers, OR, serving grades 7–12 with 52 students as part of Powers School District 31, which is ranked 122 of 141 Oregon districts (13th percentile, 1 star). The school has very high poverty indicators—86.54% of students qualified for free/reduced lunch in 2024–25—and spends $36,057 per student, with a very low student-teacher ratio of 6.6. Its historical rank record is volatile: it reached 30 of 292 schools in 2015–16 but fell to 280 of 283 in 2017–18.

The nearest comparable school is Myrtle Point High School, about 13.01 miles away, which serves grades 9–12 with 154 students and belongs to Myrtle Point School District 41, ranked 100 of 141 districts. Powers trails Myrtle Point in nearly every comparable test score. All-grade ELA proficiency is 20% at Powers, 37.9% at Myrtle Point, and 43.8% statewide; math is 5.7%, 21.4%, and 32.9%; science is 19.2%, 51.7%, and 30.6%. In grade 11, Powers has 14.3% ELA, under 5% math, and under 5% science, while Myrtle Point has 37.9%, 21.4%, and 51.7%. This gap is notable because the two schools serve similar poverty levels (86.54% vs. 87.66% free/reduced lunch), yet Powers spends about 14.5% more per student and has less than half the student-teacher ratio (6.6 vs. 15.4).

One bright spot is grade 8 science, where Powers’ proficiency is 41.7%, above the state’s 27.7%; grade 11 science, however, is under 5%, far below the state’s 33.8% and Myrtle Point’s 51.7%. Powers’ most recent graduation rate is a relative strength at 87.5% in 2024–25, above the state’s 83.0% and close to Myrtle Point’s 87.2%. But chronic absenteeism is a current concern at 39.6%, up from 28.9% in 2023–24 and above the state’s 33.5%. Small cohorts make percentages volatile, and grade 7 ELA and math are suppressed by the state, so they cannot be evaluated. Overall, Powers is a very small, high-poverty, high-spending rural school with low current test proficiency, a solid recent graduation rate, and attendance challenges.