St Paul Elementary School, St Paul OR

Original Research by School Decision on St Paul Elementary School

St. Paul Elementary School serves a small, rural community in the Willamette Valley, drawing families from a town that is compact enough that the school, the historic district, the Catholic church, and the post office all sit within a few blocks. The town itself is quiet and residential aside from the annual St. Paul Rodeo, and agriculture dominates the local economy. The school is the elementary arm of a two-school district; after sixth grade, students move to the district’s combined middle and high school.

State test results for grades three through six show a school that, in this single year of available data, performs above the midpoint among the districts in Marion County. Across math and English language arts, proficiency rates vary by grade level and subject. In math, the range runs from about half of students meeting the bar in third and fifth grades to about two-thirds meeting it in fourth and sixth grades. In English, the pattern is similar: roughly two-fifths proficient in third grade, climbing to nearly two-thirds in fourth grade, and settling around half or three-fifths in fifth and sixth grades. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a lower proficiency rate. Parents looking for a fuller picture of academic growth will find only a single year of data, so trends are not yet visible. The overall proficiency index for the school places it in the top quarter of districts in the county, which is a solid starting point for a school this size.

The student body is very small, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, signaling a high level of economic need. The student population is predominantly white, with a notable Hispanic minority. Data on special education services and English learner supports was not available in the information we reviewed, so families whose children may need those services should ask the school directly about what is offered.

Housing in St. Paul sits at a moderate level relative to national benchmarks, and the town has seen little new development in recent years. The local economy rests on agriculture and manufacturing, and many residents likely commute to larger nearby cities for work. In 2021, voters approved a school bond for capital improvements across the district’s two campuses, which means a tax obligation for property owners and likely some facility upgrades in the near future.

For a family considering this school, the context is clear. St. Paul Elementary offers a very small, rural setting with academic results that compare favorably to other public schools in the county, especially in upper-elementary math. The high poverty rate means the school likely qualifies for federal Title I funding, though we did not see a confirmed Title I designation in the data. The absence of chronic absenteeism data and any staffing or course access information means these are open questions a parent would want to explore. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to examine. As a PK-6 school, this is the foundation for a student’s education before they move on to the district’s secondary campus a few blocks away.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 61%

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

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 67%

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

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 65%

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

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 60%

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

Science

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

This schoolSt Paul SD 45, 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.