Alameda Elementary School, Ontario OR

Original Research by School Decision on Alameda Elementary School

Alameda Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Ontario, a small border city in far eastern Oregon where the economy is anchored by food processing, agriculture, corrections, and a cannabis retail sector that draws heavily from Idaho. The school is part of the Ontario School District, which voters recently approved a bond for facility improvements including roof repairs, HVAC upgrades, and security enhancements. The district also adopted a new elementary English Language Arts curriculum based on the science of reading, which began implementation in the 2024-2025 school year, and expanded its dual language immersion program through fifth grade, offering a bilingual pathway for families.

The student body is majority Hispanic, with a smaller white population and a very small share identifying as two or more races. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is reported at a level that exceeds total enrollment, a data flag a parent may want to clarify with the school directly. Information on special education and English learner populations was not available.

Academically, Alameda's state assessment results in the 2024-2025 school year were modest across the tested grades and subjects. Proficiency rates in both math and English language arts sat below where many families would hope, and in fifth-grade science the pattern was similar. When compared to school districts across Malheur County, the school’s overall proficiency index fell in the lower portion of the range. It is worth noting that state testing data only covered grades four and five, so results for the other elementary grades—where the new reading curriculum is being rolled out—are not yet reflected.

Discipline records, staffing ratios, attendance figures, and chronic absenteeism data were not available in the materials reviewed. Without those, it is difficult to assess the daily environment or the level of student engagement.

Alameda Elementary is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation. It operates as a neighborhood school within Ontario's integrated city fabric, close to civic institutions and residential areas. For families considering this school, the district-level shifts toward the science of reading and dual language instruction represent intentional changes worth asking about. The academic results, however, are a soft spot that warrants a direct conversation with the school about what support is in place and how progress is measured in the early grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

This schoolOntario SD 8C, 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.