Summary:
ZIP code 97454 contains exactly one elementary school, Marcola Elementary School, a PK–6 school with 139 students at 38300 Wendling Rd in the rural community of Marcola, part of Marcola School District 79J. Because it is the only elementary school in the area, there are no local schools to compare it against — the meaningful comparisons are between Marcola Elementary, its district, and Oregon as a whole.
Academically, the picture is mixed. The school's clearest strength is 3rd grade: 64.3% of 3rd graders were proficient in English language arts and 60.0% in math, both well above statewide rates of 41.5% and 41.3% and essentially matching the district. Results fall off sharply in later grades — 4th-grade math was 14.3%, 6th-grade ELA 10.5%, and 6th-grade math 5.3%, all below district and state. Overall, 33.3% of students were proficient in ELA, 23.4% in math, and 21.4% in science, each below both district and state averages. Note that 5th-grade ELA and math figures were suppressed by the state to protect student privacy, so they are unknown rather than evidence of weak performance. With only 139 students, grade-level percentages can swing widely based on a handful of students.
Attendance is a bright spot: chronic absenteeism was 18.4%, far below Oregon's 33.5% though above the district's 8.4%. Context matters here — 61.87% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch and per-student spending is $19,005. The school ranks 500th of 709 Oregon elementary schools (29th percentile, 1 star), and Marcola School District 79J ranks higher at the 49th percentile. In short: a small, high-poverty school with a promising 3rd-grade cohort and better-than-state attendance, but real work to do in upper grades and overall proficiency.
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