Powell Butte Community Charter School, Powell Butte OR

Original Research by School Decision on Powell Butte Community Charter School

Powell Butte Community Charter School serves kindergarten through eighth grade in a rural, unincorporated community in Crook County. The school occupies a stretch of highway between Redmond and Prineville, surrounded by farmland, ranch land, and panoramic views of the Cascades and Ochoco Mountains. There is no traditional downtown, no public library, and no transit system. The post office, the Christian church, and the charter school itself are the civic anchors. The school was created after the Crook County School District voted to close the former elementary school; the community established a charter and took over operations, making it a locally rooted institution that functions as the community’s primary public gathering place.

The student body is small and predominantly white, with a modest share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. The school’s enrollment covers each elementary and middle school grade, typical for a K-8 setting. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and state testing data covers only the grades that are tested. No chronic absenteeism or discipline data appeared in the available records, and information on special education and English learner populations was missing.

On state assessments from the most recent testing year, English language arts performance was a clear strength across most grades. A large majority of students met proficiency benchmarks in fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, with seventh grade showing an especially high rate. Fourth grade also had a strong showing. Third grade was closer to the middle of the range. In math, the picture was more uneven. Proficiency rates were low in most elementary and middle school grades, with one notable exception: seventh grade math, where a majority of students met the bar. Fifth grade math was just above the low end, while sixth and eighth grade math showed weaker results. Science results, available for fifth and eighth grades, fell around the mid-range, with fifth grade slightly ahead of eighth. This is a single year of data with no prior trend available, so it is not possible to say whether these numbers represent an improvement or a decline.

Parents considering the school should be aware that the small enrollment means class sizes are modest, and the school’s charter status gives it some independence from the district’s standard curriculum and calendar. The community’s rural character means limited walkability, no commercial street life, and a reliance on personal vehicles for everything beyond the school grounds. Housing in the area is expensive relative to state and national benchmarks, reflecting broader central Oregon market pressures, and the local population is older — the median age is well above the national average — which may matter to families looking for a community with a younger demographic mix.

At the district level, a new superintendent took office in 2024, which could influence curriculum, staffing, and policy direction for the charter school as part of the Crook County School District. The district also operates a tiny rural K-8 school in the Brothers area that reopened after a closure, offering another unconventional option in the county, though it is a separate program from Powell Butte.

For a family drawn to a small, community-run school in an agricultural setting where the school is the center of local life, Powell Butte Community Charter School offers a clear pathway through elementary and middle grades. The academic picture is mixed, with stronger reading and writing results and math results that parents will want to ask the school about directly — particularly in the middle years where proficiency drops off. The school’s strengths lie in its close-knit character and its English language arts outcomes, while math represents an area where a parent should seek more detail on instruction and support.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 44% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 40% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 38% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 30% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 36% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 36% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 43% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 45% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 58% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 44% · ▲ 23 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 789%

School 89% · District 53% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median

Grade 868%

School 68% · District 59% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median

Science

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 32% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 28% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median

This schoolCrook County SD, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.