Dufur School, Dufur OR - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Dufur School

Dufur School is the single K-12 public school serving Dufur School District #29, and it sits in the heart of a small, tight-knit agricultural community in Wasco County, a short drive south of the Columbia River Gorge. The town of Dufur itself is a quiet, unpretentious place of modest size, with a strong identity rooted in wheat, cherry orchards, and vineyards. Its annual Threshing Bee draws visitors from across the region, but day to day the town is still and rural, with a minimal commercial core and no public transit. The school, given the town's small footprint, is embedded in the community fabric rather than set apart on a distant campus. Families who choose to live here are generally looking for a small-town, farm-country setting, and the school reflects that scale and closeness.

With an enrollment that serves every grade from kindergarten through twelfth, Dufur School is one of the smaller comprehensive schools in the area. A notable share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to a community with a significant portion of lower-income households, consistent with the local agricultural economy. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller but substantial representation of American Indian or Alaska Native students, a modest Hispanic presence, and a small share of multiracial students. Data for students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in the available records, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the support structures in place for those populations.

State assessment results offer a mixed picture. In the earlier elementary grades, particularly fourth grade, students reached proficiency on the English language arts test at a level that would be a clear strength for a school this size. Third and fifth graders also posted solid results in reading. In math, the early elementary results were more moderate, with roughly a third of third and fourth graders meeting the bar, a figure that is what one might expect from a small rural school rather than a standout. The picture becomes harder in the middle school years. By sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, proficiency rates in both math and English language arts dropped considerably, with math particularly low. Science results followed a similar pattern, with a decent showing in fifth grade and a much weaker one by eighth grade. The single-year snapshot prevents drawing a trend, but a parent of a middle schooler here would want to understand what academic supports are in place and how the school addresses the dip in those grades.

Overall, the school's combined proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint relative to the other districts in Wasco County, so while the numbers are modest on an absolute scale, they are competitive within this immediate rural peer group. A graduation rate was not available in the data provided, so it is not possible to assess how many students make it through to a diploma, a notable gap for families considering the high school years. The school's status as a regular public school means it is not a charter, magnet, or alternative program, and it follows the standard district curriculum.

The district itself does not appear to have undergone any major recent shifts or restructuring that would be visible from publicly available information. The school is the only one in its district, so there are no intra-district school choice decisions to make. For a family considering Dufur, the appeal is the small, rural, all-in-one school experience where every teacher knows every student, and the trade-offs are the academic challenges visible in the middle school testing data and the absence of the breadth of course options a larger district might offer. A parent with a student who thrives in a close community and needs consistent attention through the middle school years could find this a good fit, but a family with concerns about middle school performance or a need for specialized programs would want to ask direct questions about remediation, enrichment, and high school pathways before enrolling.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 28 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

326 schools plotted. 10 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 67%

School 7% · District 7%

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 87%

School 7% · District 7%

▼ 20 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 334%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 18 pts below state median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 23 pts below state median

Science

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 10%

▼ 16 pts below state median

This schoolDufur SD 29, 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.