The top reported proficiency rate is 45% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Letitia Carson Elementary School
Letitia Carson Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Corvallis, within the Corvallis School District 509J. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and sits in the northwest part of the city.
Corvallis itself is a mixed-use college town anchored by Oregon State University, which dominates the local economy alongside significant employers in healthcare, technology, and research. The university campus sits near the edge of downtown, creating an integrated fabric of civic and institutional life. The city has a growing wine industry, a notable tech R&D presence as part of the broader Silicon Forest region, and a greenbelt with numerous municipal parks. Housing in the area carries a substantial price tag relative to national medians, and rents have been rising. The district did not have clearly documented recent parent-relevant changes such as bond measures or curriculum shifts in publicly available sources.
Letitia Carson Elementary enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with a substantial share of students identifying as two or more races and a smaller share identifying as Hispanic. A large majority of families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic need at the school. The school is mid-sized for an elementary school, with enough students to organize grade-level classes across all years from kindergarten through fifth grade.
State assessment results are available from the 2024-2025 school year, and this is the only year of data on record, so no trend across multiple years can be observed. The school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Benton County. That top-quartile position is the single strongest piece of academic context available. Looking at the individual grade-level results, students in third grade posted the highest proficiency rates in both math and English language arts among the elementary grades at the school. Fourth and fifth grade results are lower in math, and fifth grade English language arts and science proficiency rates are the weakest of any tested grade and subject combination at the school. A family looking at these results would want to understand why the spread across grade levels is as wide as it is, and whether that pattern is consistent from year to year or reflects a single cohort. Because only one year of data is available, it is impossible to tell whether this is an anomaly or an established pattern.
The school offers no high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Information on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, discipline rates, and course access was not available. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were also missing from the record. A parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports and how the school serves students with a wide range of needs, particularly given the high rate of economic disadvantage.
Letitia Carson Elementary presents a mixed academic picture. It stands out within Benton County on overall proficiency, which is a meaningful positive signal, but the variation between grade levels and the lack of multi-year data leave important questions unanswered. The school serves a high-need population in an expensive housing market within a college town that offers substantial cultural and employment resources. For a family choosing this school, the primary known asset is its relative countywide performance, while the primary unknowns are the consistency of that performance across years and the details of student support systems.
See more original research from School Decision →