Best Public Schools in Zip Code 97058

Zip code 97058 covers The Dalles, Oregon, where 6 schools serve about 2,673 students in grades K–12, all within North Wasco County School District 21. The district is rated 1 star and ranks 119th of 141 Oregon districts (16th percentile), and five of the six schools report free/reduced lunch between 98.63% and 100%. Enrollment splits across The Dalles High School (795), The Dalles Middle School (513), the three elementaries (1,133 combined), and Innovations Academy (232).

Only one school-level result in the entire data set beats the Oregon average: Dry Hollow Elementary School posts 39.5% science proficiency against a 30.6% state figure, and it holds the highest rank in the group (40th percentile, 2 stars). Its closest peer by size and demographics, Chenowith Elementary School, is the lowest performer — 703rd of 709 Oregon elementaries, with 15.2% ELA, 9.9% math, and 6% science, despite the second-highest spending per student ($21,138) and the smallest classes (14.9:1). The Dalles High School graduates 91.2% of students, 8.2 points above state, even though only 16.2% are proficient in math. Colonel Wright Elementary School fell from the 23rd to the 8th percentile in three years.

Two patterns matter most for families. First, money and class size do not track with results here: the lowest-spending non-alternative school outperforms the highest-spending one by 19.5 points in ELA and 33.5 in science. Second, chronic absenteeism is district-wide — the district rate of 39.5% exceeds the state's 33.5%, with four schools clustered between 32% and 41%; Innovations Academy is the extreme outlier at 72.8% absenteeism and a 63.8% graduation rate, while also serving a notably less disadvantaged population (47.41% free/reduced lunch) and posting the zip code's best math scores (29.5%). Weakness is concentrated in 3rd grade reading and 5th grade math and science.