McKay High School

McKay High School is a 9–12 comprehensive high school in northeast Salem, Oregon, serving 2,380 students — the largest enrollment in Salem-Keizer School District 24J — with about 90% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, the highest share among the district's comprehensive high schools.

On 2025-26 state tests, 29.6% of McKay students were proficient in English language arts, 10.2% in math and 15.8% in science. That is below the district average in every subject (ELA 34.5, math 15.3, science 25.1) and far below the state, especially in math, where proficiency is under one-third of the state rate. Nearby Salem-Keizer schools post notably higher results — West Salem High School at 46.3% ELA and 24.4% math, and South Salem High School at 34.2% science. Two other nearby campuses score lower: North Salem High School and the alternative Roberts High School, both about two miles away. In contrast to the test scores, McKay's 83.1% graduation rate is above the district average and essentially at the state rate. The clearest concern is attendance: 65.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, nearly double the state's 33.5% and essentially unchanged for four straight years.

McKay receives the least funding per student of the district's six comprehensive high schools ($19,282), while its student-teacher ratio has risen from 21.9 to 24.6 in three years. Statewide, the school ranked at the 1st–7th percentile from 2021-22 through 2024-25, then rebounded to the 13th percentile in 2025-26 — its best showing since 2018-19, though still in the bottom sixth of Oregon high schools and only a single year of improvement. About 1.2 miles away, Early College High School enrolls 193 students with 89.7% ELA proficiency and 13.2% chronic absenteeism — a very different school model, but a useful local benchmark.