Summary:
Zip code 97720 is served by a single elementary school — Henry L Slater Elementary School in Burns, Oregon — which enrolls 297 students in grades K–5 and belongs to Harney County School District 3.
For parents, the most important academic picture is that this school performs better than its own district but trails Oregon overall. In 2025–2026 OSAS testing, all-grade English Language Arts proficiency was 28.3% (district 22.5%, state 43.8%), math was 24.1% (district 15.6%, state 32.9%), and science was 13.7% (district 13.3%, state 30.6%). Breaking that down by grade, 4th grade is the strongest tested grade, with both ELA and math at 31.9%, while 5th grade is the clearest weak spot: only 10.0% of 5th graders were proficient in math versus 32.4% statewide, and 5th grade science was 13.7% versus 30.8% statewide. The school has a student/teacher ratio of 14.4 and spends $18,273 per student, and 91.58% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating very high economic need.
One genuine bright spot is attendance: chronic absenteeism in 2024–2025 was 23.9%, well below the district’s 37.7% and the state’s 33.5%. Rankings, however, have been uneven — the school sat at the 28th percentile in 2023–2024, rose to the 41st percentile in 2024–2025, then dropped to the 17th percentile (588 of 709, 1 star) in 2025–2026. The surrounding district is itself low-ranked at 132 of 141, or the 6th percentile, with 0 stars.
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