Summary:
ZIP code 97203 in Portland is home to five elementary schools — Cesar Chavez K-8 School, Astor Elementary School, James John Elementary School, Sitton Elementary School, and Rosa Parks Elementary School — serving students from pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, all within Portland School District 1J, and together enrolling about 1,744 students. The district itself is highly ranked (12th of 141 in Oregon, 5 stars), but the schools in this ZIP differ dramatically from one another.
Astor is the standout: it ranks 116th of 709 Oregon elementary schools (84th percentile, 4 stars), with 54.2% ELA, 49.6% math, and 40.8% science proficiency, plus the lowest chronic absenteeism in the group at 29.0%. Cesar Chavez (666th, 6th percentile) and Rosa Parks (695th, 2nd percentile) sit at the opposite end, with proficiency in the low teens or below; Rosa Parks also has the highest absenteeism here at 50.0%. Sitton lands near the middle (354th, 3 stars), at the state average in ELA (44.3%) and above it in math (36.9%), while James John (483rd, 32nd percentile, 2 stars) is below state averages in all three subjects.
Several patterns stand out. Attendance tracks closely with achievement: Astor has both the lowest absenteeism and the highest scores, while the lowest-scoring schools have some of the highest. Extra money and smaller classes did not translate into higher achievement here — Rosa Parks spends the most per student ($33,324) with the smallest classes (9.7 ratio) yet has the lowest proficiency, while Astor spends the least ($22,483) with the largest classes (16.1). Free/reduced lunch figures above 100% at Sitton and Rosa Parks appear to be reporting anomalies, but they still signal very high economic need. Rankings have been stable for the past three years, so these are persistent patterns rather than one-year fluctuations.
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