Riverdale Grade School, Portland OR

Original Research by School Decision on Riverdale Grade School

Riverdale Grade School, a regular public school serving kindergarten through eighth grade, is part of the Riverdale School District, a small district within the city of Portland. The school’s enrollment is modest for a K-8 span, with generally balanced class groups across the grades. The student body is predominantly white, with a significant share of students who identify as two or more races, and a smaller share of Hispanic and Asian students. Data on how many students qualify for free or reduced-price meals was not available, and it is also absent for special education services and English learner status, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about these student support populations.

On Oregon’s statewide assessments, Riverdale Grade School’s proficiency rates are strong and stand out compared to other districts in Multnomah County. In English language arts, proficiency is high across the tested grades, with some grade levels showing a very large share of students meeting the standard. The school’s overall English language arts proficiency places it in the top quartile among the county’s districts. Math results are also strong, with a high level of proficiency in every grade from third through eighth, and again the school’s overall math performance is in the top quartile of Multnomah County districts. Science results, available for fifth and eighth grades, show a solid share of students meeting the bar. Because this is a single year of state testing data, we cannot yet see a trend; the multi-year information begins here. There is no graduation rate to report because Riverdale is a K-8 school; students move on to high school elsewhere, so that measure does not apply.

The school is set within Portland, a large, dense city with a mix of commercial districts, residential neighborhoods, and a strong urban identity focused on sustainability and civic culture. Portland’s downtown features a walkable grid and extensive public transit, including light rail, streetcars, and buses. The city is home to major employers in healthcare, technology, athletic and outdoor brands, and education. Housing in the school’s zip code is priced well above the state benchmark and above the national median, reflecting the area’s desirability and the broader Portland housing market, which has seen significant cost increases. Rents also run high. This is an urban environment with all the amenities and pressures that come with a major metropolitan center. The district brief did not surface any recent bond measures, levy campaigns, or curriculum changes, so no parent-relevant changes from the past few years are available to report.

The absence of data on student support metrics like free lunch eligibility, special education, and English learner enrollment, alongside the lack of a graduation rate (which is not applicable), means that a family considering this school will want to gather information directly from the school about the full range of student experiences and support structures. What the data does show is a school with consistently high academic performance on state tests, set in a high-cost, urban area with a strong sense of place and civic life. It offers a K-8 pathway that keeps students in the same school community through the middle school years, before they transition to high school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 486%

School 86% · District 86%

▲ 52 pts above state median · ▲ 52 pts above county median

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 48 pts above county median

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 52 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Grade 781%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 51 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 885%

School 85% · District 85%

▲ 58 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 374%

School 74% · District 74%

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

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 79%

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

Grade 588%

School 88% · District 88%

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

Grade 694%

School 94% · District 94%

▲ 53 pts above state median · ▲ 46 pts above county median

Grade 788%

School 88% · District 88%

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

Science

Grade 570%

School 70% · District 70%

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

Grade 875%

School 75% · District 75%

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

This schoolRiverdale SD 51J, 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.