Summary:
Zip code 97304 has exactly one high school: West Salem High School, serving grades 9–12 with 1,606 students as part of Salem-Keizer School District 24J in Salem, Oregon. Because it is the only local high-school option in this data set, families in the area are choosing within a single-school boundary rather than comparing multiple campuses, so the most useful comparison is between this school, its district, and the state.
The school's trajectory is strongly upward. Its state rank moved from 210th of 268 (22nd percentile, 1 star) in 2023–2024 to 162nd of 270 (40th percentile, 2 stars) in 2024–2025, then to 132nd of 271 (51st percentile, 3 stars) in 2025–2026 — a 29-percentile-point gain over two years, moving from the bottom quartile to slightly above the state median. Graduation is the standout outcome at 94.4%, which is 14.7 points above the district (79.7%) and 11.4 points above the state (83.0%). In English Language Arts, 46.3% of students are proficient, above the district (34.5%) and slightly above the state all-grades rate (43.8%), and essentially at the state 11th-grade rate (46.3% vs. 46.0%). In 11th-grade math, 24.4% are proficient, above the district (15.3%) and above the state (22.9%).
Two areas warrant attention. Science is the clearest academic weak spot at 25.2%, which is 8.6 points below the state 11th-grade rate of 33.8%, though roughly even with the district (25.1%). Chronic absenteeism is 41.8%, meaning roughly two in five students are chronically absent — 8.3 points worse than the state (33.5%), though slightly better than the district (43.1%). Context matters: 89.48% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, per-student spending is $20,199, and the student-teacher ratio is 25:1. Notably, because OSAS testing occurs in 11th grade at this 9–12 school, the all-grades and 11th-grade figures are identical, so 11th-grade comparisons are the fairest.
Thank you for your feedback!