Laurelhurst Elementary School, Portland OR

Original Research by School Decision on Laurelhurst Elementary School

Laurelhurst Elementary School serves kindergarten through eighth grade in a single building in Portland’s inner east-side neighborhoods. It is a regular public school within Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest district. The school sits in a part of the city that blends early-to-mid-20th-century single-family homes, apartment buildings, and commercial strips, within a few blocks of Laurelhurst Park, a heavily used expanse of lawns, trails, and a pond.

The student body is predominantly white and relatively small for the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade span. A very modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, well below the district average. The school receives no Title I funding, which tracks with the income profile reported. Data on special education identification and English-learner enrollment were not reported; a parent may want to ask the school directly about the populations it serves and the supports available.

Across the Oregon state assessments administered in the 2024-2025 school year, Laurelhurst’s students posted strong proficiency rates in English language arts. In grades three through eight, the share of students meeting the state bar was high in every tested grade, with the lowest grade still reporting roughly three out of four students proficient. Math results were also solid by historical norms, though the pattern shifted noticeably by grade. The elementary grades three, four, and five all posted proficiency rates well above the state median, while the middle school grades showed a step down: sixth grade math proficiency was markedly lower, eighth grade math proficiency dipped as well, and eighth grade science proficiency fell further. The overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, places Laurelhurst in the top quartile among districts in Multnomah County. That is a very strong signal, but the middle school math and science valleys worth noting for families weighing a single-building K-8 option.

The school cannot offer a graduation rate or typical high school course access since its grade band ends at eighth grade. Families looking ahead will need to consider the high school transition within Portland Public Schools.

Housing costs in the immediate area are meaningfully above the state median home value, consistent with a central Portland neighborhood that has seen rising prices and deeper gentrification pressure since the 1990s, as publicly reported. Rents also run high relative to typical Portland averages. A family moving to the attendance zone for this school should expect a tight housing market with elevated entry costs.

Portland Public Schools, as a district, is navigating an enrollment decline from pre-pandemic levels, a pattern that has led to a Long-Range Facility Plan and a school consolidation process that included proposed closures and mergers in 2024-2025. The district also placed the largest school bond measure in Oregon history, by reported dollar amount, on the November 2024 ballot. How that process affects Laurelhurst’s building, boundaries, or feeder patterns is not detailed in the available data a parent may want to monitor district decisions closely.

The community context is a dense, walkable, transit-connected city with a strong civic culture. The school itself is nested in a quiet residential pocket of that larger urban environment. For a family who values a neighborhood K-8 with strong elementary academics, relatively low poverty enrollment, and a setting that lets a child stay in one building through middle school, Laurelhurst aligns with that preference. For families concerned about the dip in middle school math and science results, or who want a more socioeconomically mixed peer environment, it may not be the right fit. The core academic strength in literacy and the high overall performance placement within Multnomah County are clear takeways from the numbers available.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 56% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 56% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 49% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 46% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 50% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 46% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 55% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 483%

School 83% · District 59% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 584%

School 84% · District 60% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 55% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 781%

School 81% · District 59% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 884%

School 84% · District 57% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 39 pts above county median

Science

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 45% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 41% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 16 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.