Salish Ponds Elementary School

Salish Ponds Elementary School is a K–5 school in Fairview, Oregon, serving about 330 students as part of Reynolds School District 7, just east of Portland in the Gresham area. It sits in the bottom tier of Oregon schools: in 2025–2026 it ranked 690th of 709 schools, the 3rd percentile, with zero stars — a position it has held for ten straight years, never once earning a star and never rising above the 8th percentile.

Academically, 13.1% of students met standards in English language arts and 8.6% in math, both below district and state averages. Science is the clear exception: 15.8% proficiency is above the district average and beats several nearby schools. Grade-level results show a sharp dip in 4th grade (6.5% in ELA, math suppressed at under 5%), while 5th grade is the strongest cohort and carries the school's science result. Chronic absenteeism stands at 48.4%, roughly 15 points above the state rate and among the highest locally — a real, actionable lever for improvement.

Comparisons to nearby schools are informative. Fairview Elementary School (18th percentile) and Multnomah Learning Academy (32nd percentile) show that better results are attainable for Reynolds students, while Rockwood Preparatory Academy (30.6%) and Lupine Community Montessori Charter School (25.3%) post much lower absenteeism. Salish Ponds receives the lowest per-student funding of its traditional Reynolds peers ($22,811) and has the largest classes (student–teacher ratio 15.0). Notably, its low-income subgroup ranks in the 13th percentile — better than its overall rank — suggesting the school may be more effective than its headline number implies when judged against comparable high-poverty schools.