Summary:
The city of Gaston, Oregon is home to two schools: Gaston Junior/Senior High School and Gaston Elementary School, both part of the Gaston School District 511J. While the district as a whole is ranked 78 out of 140 in Oregon and rated 2 stars out of 5, Gaston Elementary School stands out as the stronger-performing school in the area, consistently earning higher statewide rankings and ratings compared to Gaston Junior/Senior High School.
Gaston Elementary School ranked 217 out of 710 Oregon elementary schools and received a 3-star rating in the 2023-2024 school year, while Gaston Junior/Senior High School ranked 194 out of 268 Oregon high schools and received a 1-star rating. This trend has been consistent over the past few years, with Gaston Elementary School maintaining a 3-star rating and Gaston Junior/Senior High School remaining at a 1-star rating. Gaston Elementary School also generally outperforms the district and state in English Language Arts and Mathematics proficiency for grades 3-6, while Gaston Junior/Senior High School struggles with proficiency, with only 20.6% of 11th-graders proficient in English Language Arts and 8.8% proficient in Mathematics, significantly below the state averages.
Despite the similar free and reduced lunch rates and student-teacher ratios between the two schools, the significant gap in academic performance suggests that factors beyond socioeconomic status and class size, such as curriculum, teaching quality, and school leadership, may be more influential in driving the differences in school performance. The higher spending per student at Gaston Elementary School compared to Gaston Junior/Senior High School does not appear to directly translate to better performance, indicating that simply increasing funding may not be the sole solution to the challenges faced by Gaston Junior/Senior High School.
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