The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 23% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Rock Creek Middle School
Rock Creek Middle School sits within the unincorporated community of Clackamas, a car-oriented Portland suburb with a mix of residential neighborhoods, strip commercial development, industrial parks, and the large Clackamas Town Center mall. The area’s biggest employer is Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center, and the community relies on I-205 and the MAX Green Line for commuting. Clackamas lacks a traditional downtown; schools are spread across separate campuses. Housing values in the area are above the national median, though home prices have seen a modest recent dip, and rents have edged up slightly.
The school serves sixth through eighth grade as a regular public middle school in the North Clackamas School District. It is not a charter or magnet school. The enrollment is large enough to fill three grade levels with multiple sections. Around half of the students identify as white, with the next-largest groups being Asian and Hispanic. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
The district has been through several recent changes that may matter to families. A capital construction bond that would have funded facility improvements and safety upgrades was voted down in late 2024, leaving a large amount of identified unmet facility needs without a funding source. The district opened a new high school in 2021 in the fast-growing eastern part of its territory, which reshaped feeder patterns. A new elementary literacy curriculum based on the science of reading was adopted in 2023. And starting in the 2024-25 school year, middle schools joined high schools in moving to later start times, while elementary schools shifted earlier.
On state assessments from the 2024-25 school year, Rock Creek’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits in the bottom quarter when compared to districts across Clackamas County. In English language arts, the share of students meeting proficiency benchmarks declines from sixth grade to eighth grade, and the same pattern holds in math. In eighth-grade science, the proficiency rate is lower still. The school has only one year of assessment data available in this reporting, so there is no trend to examine yet.
Because Rock Creek is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism and on the share of students receiving special education services or classified as English learners was not available in this reporting. Discipline records and course access information also were absent, making it hard to assess the full student experience.
A parent considering Rock Creek should look into the school’s support structures for students who are not yet proficient in reading and math, given the assessment results. The absence of data on special populations and discipline is a gap worth raising directly with the school. The district’s recent shift to later start times for middle schoolers is a widely researched move intended to support adolescent sleep needs. The defeated bond means the district will have to find other ways to address aging buildings and capacity issues. The feeder high school for a given neighborhood depends on the attendance area, which may have been affected by the new high school opening in 2021, so families should confirm which high school their address serves.
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