The top reported proficiency rate is 16% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Clear Creek Middle School
Clear Creek Middle School in Gresham serves grades six through eight as a regular public school within the Gresham-Barlow School District. Gresham itself is a city where schools are spread across three districts, and Clear Creek is one of several middle schools operating on campuses distributed through different neighborhoods rather than clustered downtown. Mount Hood Community College is nearby but on a separate campus, and the city’s civic life, including its branch library, is centered downtown.
The student body of roughly this size for a middle school is diverse. Slightly under half of the students are Hispanic, with White students making up about a third. Smaller shares of students are two or more races, Black, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a higher-poverty context. Data on special education identification and English learner status were not available in the source materials.
On state assessments, proficiency rates across all three grades and subjects are low. The overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, places Clear Creek in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Multnomah County. In English language arts, proficiency was reported at a rate that is modest across all three grades, with sixth grade the highest and seventh the lowest. In math, proficiency was reported at a single-digit rate in each grade, with seventh grade slightly higher than sixth and eighth. In eighth grade science, proficiency was reported at a similar low rate. The data available covers only the most recent school year, so an academic trend cannot yet be assessed.
These results mean that a large majority of students are not meeting state benchmarks in core subjects. This is a soft spot that a parent or resident would want to investigate further with the school, asking about the specific instructional supports, intervention programs, and curriculum strategies in place. The comparison set indicates that Clear Creek’s overall performance is the lowest among the districts in Multnomah County for which proficiency data was available, a fact that merits attention.
The school offers no high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, and staffing was not present in the data provided, leaving a gap in the picture of school climate and academic opportunity.
The Gresham-Barlow School District’s recent changes were searched, and little of lasting impact was found to report. Housing in the Gresham area carries a value roughly near the state benchmark and above the national one, but has seen a modest recent decline. Rents are around the state level and represent a manageable share of typical household income, though affordability relative to national income is tight. The broader economic context shows a national unemployment rate that has been steady, and mortgage rates have fluctuated in a narrow range over recent months.
For a family considering Clear Creek, the core academic challenge is clear. The school serves a population with high economic need and low measured proficiency. A parent would want to understand what additional support is available, whether there are programs that serve particular student groups well, and what the school’s approach to raising achievement looks like. The absence of more detailed school environment data means that part of the picture is incomplete.
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