The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Math. The lowest is 45% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Orondo Elementary and Middle School
Orondo Elementary and Middle School serves students from preschool through eighth grade in the unincorporated community of Orondo, a rural agricultural area along the eastern bank of the Columbia River in Douglas County. This is a small regular public school, the only school in the Orondo School District. Because the district is a non-high district, families face a key decision when their child finishes eighth grade: students then choose among the Chelan, Eastmont, or Waterville school districts for high school.
The school’s enrollment is small, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a much smaller share of White students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The community itself is defined by orchards producing apples, cherries, and pears, with fruit stands lining US Highway 97. There is no traditional downtown; daily life centers on agriculture and the highway corridor. The most prominent local employer is Auvil Fruit Company, a major force in Washington’s fruit industry. Major civic anchors include Daroga State Park and Beebe Bridge State Park along the Columbia River, as well as Orondo River Park. The population has grown slowly and steadily. The most significant recent infrastructure development was the construction of a new elementary school building, which replaced an older schoolhouse. No major new housing developments or rapid growth were identified. We looked for recent district-level changes such as referendums, curriculum shifts, or property tax changes but found none publicly reported in the researched period.
State testing data for the 2024-25 school year is available for some grades, but results for several grade levels were suppressed, likely due to the school’s very small class sizes — a common practice when the number of tested students is too low to report reliably. For the grades where results were reported, the picture is mixed. In third grade, proficiency in math and English language arts reached a level that would be considered solid, with over half of students meeting the bar. By fifth and sixth grade, however, proficiency rates dropped to roughly a third of students in both subjects in the reported grades. Science results for fifth grade were reported in a similar range. The multi-year trend shows only a single year of data, so no pattern of improvement or decline can be discerned.
When compared to other districts in Douglas County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it at the top of the county’s districts. That comparison is a useful benchmark, but it reflects a small cohort of districts, and the school itself has many suppressed grade-level results, so the comparison should be weighed accordingly.
The school’s setting is rural and car-dependent. Street life is limited to seasonal fruit stand traffic along the highway. The Columbia River and the orchards define the landscape rather than a pedestrian-friendly streetscape. Housing values in the area are above the national median, and the cost of buying a home here is notably higher than the statewide benchmark.
For a family considering this school, the small size and rural setting are defining characteristics. The school community is tight-knit by necessity, with a single building serving all elementary and middle grades. The academic picture shows stronger early elementary performance that softens in the upper grades, a pattern a parent may want to discuss with the school directly. The biggest structural consideration is the high school transition: the district simply does not have one, so the choice of a neighboring district’s high school will shape a student’s later path. The area’s economy is deeply tied to agriculture, and the housing market reflects its appeal as a riverfront rural community rather than as a commuter suburb.
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