Astor Elementary School, Portland OR

Original Research by School Decision on Astor Elementary School

Astor Elementary School serves kindergarten through eighth grade in Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood as a traditional public school in the Portland Public Schools district. It is a neighborhood school that takes students from early elementary through middle school, meaning a child could attend from the start of their school career until high school without switching campuses.

Academically, the school shows a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency across tested grades was above the midpoint among Multnomah County districts, with the strongest performance in the lower elementary grades. Math results were more uneven, running higher in the early grades and then dropping notably in the upper elementary and middle school years, with students in the middle grades reaching proficiency at a rate around half that of the earliest tested grade. Science results in fifth and eighth grade were lower still. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, stood well above districts in the top quartile relative to others in the county. Parents considering Astor may want to speak with the school about how math and science instruction are structured as students move through the grades, particularly given the drop-off in the middle years.

The student body is moderately diverse. White students make up just over half of enrollment, with a sizeable share of students who identify as two or more races and a smaller but present Hispanic and Black population. More than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a school that serves many families with lower household incomes. The school does not report data on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner status, so a parent looking for information on special education or language support services would need to contact the school directly.

Astor is located in the St. Johns neighborhood of north Portland, a historic working-class river community with a walkable commercial main street and its own bridge across the Willamette River. Portland itself is Oregon’s largest city, a dense urban environment with a strong civic culture, extensive public transit, and a mix of neighborhoods that vary widely in character and housing stock. The city’s population has declined slightly since the 2020 census, but the metro area continues to grow, and housing costs remain elevated, with home values and rents in the school’s ZIP code sitting above national averages. Portland Public Schools has been navigating a period of enrollment decline and school consolidation, which could affect school assignments and building conditions; the district placed a major capital bond on the ballot in late 2024, though we do not have confirmation of the outcome from the available data. The school’s housing context, with a typical home value in the area and rents that have been rising, makes it part of a market where affordability is a real consideration for families.

The school’s size is moderate for a K-8, with around three dozen students per grade on average. This scale allows for a relatively contained environment where students stay in the same school for a decade, which can be appealing to families seeking continuity. The lack of a high school on site means students will need to transition to a different campus after eighth grade, something families should plan for when looking at the feeder patterns in the district. Astor does not appear to offer any specialized program or magnet designation, functioning as a standard neighborhood school. Parents interested in course access, electives, or extracurricular offerings will need to follow up with the school, as we do not have that information in the data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 56% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 56% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 46% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 50% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 46% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 369%

School 69% · District 55% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 60% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 55% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 59% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 57% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 45% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 41% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

This schoolPortland SD 1J, 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.