Valor Middle School, Woodburn OR

Original Research by School Decision on Valor Middle School

Valor Middle School serves grades six through eight in Woodburn, Oregon, a city in the northern Willamette Valley between Portland and Salem. It is a regular public school in the Woodburn School District, not a charter or magnet. The school draws its students from across the city, which is experiencing rapid population growth and has a strong agricultural heritage tied to nursery and berry farming. Woodburn is also home to a large retirement community, a major outlet mall, and a growing industrial and commercial base. The city’s population is substantially Hispanic or Latino, a demographic pattern rooted in decades of Mexican immigration for farmwork, and the annual Fiesta Mexicana is a prominent cultural event.

Valor’s enrollment is in the middle-school range. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a much smaller share of white students and very small percentages of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a community with a median household income below state averages and a notable poverty rate. Housing values in Woodburn tend to be lower than the Oregon median, and rents are also relatively modest, making the area more affordable than many parts of the state. The city is growing quickly, and its location along Interstate 5 draws commuters who travel to Salem or Portland for work.

On state assessments, proficiency rates at Valor are low across all tested subjects and grades. In English language arts, proficiency hovers in the single digits for sixth grade and reaches the mid-teens for seventh and eighth graders. In math, proficiency is below ten percent at every grade level. Eighth-grade science proficiency is similarly low. The school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among school districts in Marion County, the comparison set available for this analysis. These results are a significant soft spot; a parent considering Valor would want to look into this further with the school and understand what academic supports are in place.

Data on special populations, such as students with disabilities or English learners, is not available in the public records used here, and the school’s discipline, staffing, and attendance figures are also absent. Because this is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report. The district itself did not surface any recent major changes or strategic initiatives in the available public information.

For families, Valor Middle School sits in a community that is growing and changing, with a strong agricultural and Latino cultural presence. The peer environment is one where most students come from low-income households and share a Hispanic background. The academic performance, as measured by state tests, is well below the county average, and this is the central fact a parent would need to weigh. A deeper conversation with the school about intervention programs, English learner supports, and plans for improvement would be essential for any family trying to determine whether this school fits their child’s needs.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 6%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 77%

School 7% · District 5% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 8% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 11% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 31 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 15% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 15% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 8%

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

This schoolWoodburn SD 103, 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.