Summary:
ZIP code 97305 in Salem, Oregon contains exactly one middle school: Stephens Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 1,014 students, making it the sole provider of middle-grade education for the entire area. It is part of Salem-Keizer School District 24J, a district ranked 105th of 141 in Oregon (26th percentile, 1 star). Because there is no second school in the ZIP, there is no local comparison to make — every benchmark comes from the district or the state, and families here have no alternative middle school option nearby.
On the 2025-26 state assessments, Stephens trails both its district and the state on all ten reported test rows, with no exceptions. All-grades proficiency is 26.4% in English language arts, 15.0% in math, and 10.8% in science, compared to district rates of 34.5%, 24.1%, and 20.9%, and state rates of 43.8%, 32.9%, and 30.6%. That places the school at 330th of 371 ranked Oregon middle schools — the 11th percentile, with 1 star. Its strongest results are 8th grade ELA (28.9%) and 6th grade ELA (26.7%); its weakest are 7th grade ELA (23.8%) and 7th grade math (14.8%). Notably, math proficiency barely changes across grades (15.5%, 14.8%, 14.7%), with roughly six in seven students below proficient at every level.
Context matters here. Chronic absenteeism is 44.0%, slightly above the district's 43.1% and well above the state's 33.5%. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility is 88.76%, per-student spending is $19,621, and the student-teacher ratio is 21.8 to 1, or roughly 47 teachers for the building. The school's statewide ranking has hovered near the bottom over three years — 12th percentile in 2023-24, 7th in 2024-25 (a 0-star year), and 11th in 2025-26 — so the recent uptick only returns to its earlier level rather than marking a clear trend.
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