Hawthorne Elementary School, Sweet Home OR

Original Research by School Decision on Hawthorne Elementary School

Hawthorne Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Sweet Home, a small city at the edge of the Cascade foothills in Linn County. The community’s identity is rooted in timber and logging history, with a traditional downtown along the US-20 corridor. After sawmill and plywood mill closures in the 1980s, the city diversified economically, including launching the Oregon Jamboree country music festival. The housing market shows home values below the state benchmark, and rents are at a level that requires a notable share of household income. The city sits at the confluence of Ames Creek and the South Santiam River, with Foster Lake on its eastern edge, reinforcing an outdoor-recreation character.

The school itself is a regular public elementary school in the Sweet Home SD 55 district. The enrollment is small for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic population and a modest share identifying as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with significant economic need. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available in the records reviewed.

State assessment results from the 2024-2025 school year show that proficiency rates across subjects and grades fall below the midpoint among districts in Linn County. In math, the proportion of students meeting proficiency standards varied by grade but remained low across the board. In English language arts, proficiency rates were also modest, with the highest share in any single grade still below what many families would consider a strong mark. Science results were similarly low. The overall proficiency index places the school’s performance in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in the county. Only one year of assessment data was available through the state, so there is no trend line to show whether performance is improving or declining.

Because Hawthorne serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism data appeared in the records. Families who want to understand how the school addresses attendance or discipline will need to ask the school directly, as those details were not part of the available information.

The district has undergone recent changes that may affect families at Hawthorne. Voters rejected a bond measure in late 2024 that would have funded facility improvements, security upgrades, and classroom modernization across the district. The measure failed because it did not meet the voter turnout requirement, and the district has indicated it may bring a revised proposal in a future election. Also, the district board voted to close Sweet Home School, an alternative school serving grades K through 12, at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Students who attended that school will be enrolled in their attendance-area school for the upcoming year unless families choose to open-enroll in another district school. The district is also working with the regional education service district to provide an online education option.

Housing in the area is predominantly owner-occupied, and the city has seen modest population growth since the 2020 census. Home values in the area have risen over the past year, though they remain below the state average. The overall picture is of a small, working-community elementary school where the majority of students come from lower-income households. Academic performance on state tests is below the county norm, which is a consideration families will want to weigh against other factors such as class size, school climate, and the kind of community setting they are looking for.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 40% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 414%

School 14% · District 35% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 512%

School 12% · District 19% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 36% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 44% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 37% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 34% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 42% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 20% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolSweet Home SD 55, 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.