Original Research by School Decision on Ocosta Ale
Ocosta ALE sits within the Ocosta School District and serves students from kindergarten through twelfth grade as a regular public school, but it is a small, specialized setting. Its enrollment is very small and concentrated in the upper grades, with most students in high school and just one student in eighth grade. The student body is split almost evenly between students who are Hispanic and students who are white, with a small number identifying as two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.
State testing results for math, English language arts, and science are suppressed for the school, meaning no proficiency information is publicly available. With such a small number of test-takers, suppression is standard to protect student privacy, but it also means there is no way to evaluate academic performance through state assessments. The school also has no reported graduation rate, chronic absenteeism rate, or discipline data. These gaps are common in very small alternative learning environments, and a family considering this school should expect to rely on direct conversations with staff and the district to understand academic outcomes and student support.
The school is part of the Ocosta School District, which serves Westport and the surrounding area. The district recently passed a replacement Educational Programs and Operations Levy, which is a significant source of operating funds for staffing, extracurriculars, and technology. The levy’s passage suggests the community is invested in maintaining current school services. The district also adopted a new K-5 English Language Arts curriculum for the 2024-2025 school year, one that is based on the science of reading, and expanded its Career and Technical Education offerings at the junior-senior high school with a marine technology and fisheries program tied to the coastal location.
Westport itself is a small coastal town that depends on commercial fishing, seafood processing, boat building, and tourism. The Westport Marina is a major economic anchor, and there has been recent public investment in a tsunami evacuation tower and a communications network. The town’s housing market shows home values that are about in line with national norms but below Washington state’s typical levels. Most residents drive to work, and the built environment is low-density and spread out along the peninsula.
For a family, Ocosta ALE is a very small, upper-grades-focused alternative program within a district that has passed recent levies and is investing in curriculum and career pathways. The lack of publicly available testing and outcome data means that a parent will need to gather information directly from school staff about how students progress academically and what the daily learning environment looks like. This setting is likely to appeal most to families specifically seeking a small, personalized alternative learning experience, and who are comfortable with the limited public metrics available to judge school performance.
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