Summary:
ZIP code 97325 covers Aumsville, a small Marion County community served entirely by Cascade School District 5, and contains just two schools: Aumsville Elementary School (grades K–5, 576 students) and Cascade Opportunity Center (grades 9–12, 83 students). Together they enroll 659 students, with the elementary school accounting for about 87% of that total. The two serve very different age groups, so parents should read their results separately rather than as one district story.
Academically, the two schools look almost opposite. Aumsville Elementary School beats the state in math proficiency (35.8% vs. 32.9%) and in chronic absenteeism (27.5% vs. 33.5%), but trails the state in English language arts (39.9% vs. 43.8%, a 3.9-point gap). Cascade Opportunity Center is the reverse: its ELA proficiency of 53.8% is 10 points above the state, while its math proficiency of 9.1% is 13.8 points below it. Its graduation rate is 53.7% and its chronic absenteeism is 55.8% — both far worse than district and state averages, and consistent with an alternative or credit-recovery setting.
Two findings stand out. First, both schools have nearly identical free/reduced-price lunch rates (64.24% and 63.86%), so economic need does not explain their very different outcomes. Second, both trail their own district, which ranks 21st of 141 Oregon districts with 4 stars. Math is the shared weakness: it misses the state in nearly every comparison, and at the elementary school math proficiency falls 13.5 points between 3rd and 5th grade even as reading holds steady. Parents weighing these schools should focus on math support and attendance first.
Thank you for your feedback!