Summary:
ZIP code 97305 in Salem is home to three high schools serving grades 9–12 — McKay High School, Chemawa Indian School, and Early College High School — with a combined enrollment of 2,771 students. The schools differ enormously in size: McKay enrolls 2,380 students, about 85.9% of all high schoolers here and roughly 12 times larger than each of the other two. Early College (193 students) and Chemawa (198) are nearly identical in size. McKay and Early College belong to Salem-Keizer School District 24J, while Chemawa is listed as its own district.
Early College High School is the standout. It is ranked #1 of 271 Oregon high schools in 2025–2026 with 5 stars and a 100.0% graduation rate, and it has been #1 or #2 for three straight years. Its test proficiency (89.7% ELA, 74.4% math, 82.1% science) far exceeds district and state averages, and its chronic absenteeism is 13.2% versus the state's 33.5%. By contrast, McKay ranks #236 of 271 with 1 star. Its proficiency is 29.6% ELA, 10.2% math, and 15.8% science, and its chronic absenteeism is 65.6%, well above the district's 43.1% and the state's 33.5%. Still, McKay's graduation rate of 83.1% is slightly above the state's 83.0%. McKay also has the highest student-teacher ratio at 24.6 and the lowest spending at $19,282 per student, compared with Early College's $28,660 and ratio of 18.6.
Chemawa Indian School stands out differently: it has the highest free/reduced lunch rate (98.48%) and the lowest student-teacher ratio (12.3), but this data file includes no test scores, graduation rate, absenteeism, rank, or spending for it. That absence means it cannot be fairly compared academically here — the information is simply not reported, not a sign of low performance. Notably, the same district ranked #105 of 141 statewide contains both the state's top-ranked high school and one in the bottom quartile, so district averages can hide large differences between individual schools.
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