Finding a home in a good school district just got a little easier for those looking in Washington County. According to ratings released by the Oregon Department of Education on the state’s 1,200 public schools, 22 of Oregon’s top-performing 114 schools reside here. In fact, of those 22 schools, 15 of them are located in Beaverton.
Oregon’s Best Neighborhood Schools
The top-performers were divided among 25 of Oregon’s 36 counties, which were rated on one of five performance levels, based on their educational effectiveness in 2011-12 and 2012-13. But it was Washington County who is home to some of the best neighborhood schools in the greater Portland area, outperforming the rest of the state and beating out Multnomah County, who laid claim to 16 of Oregon’s top schools.
Why Washington County?
Now, you may be wondering, if Multnomah County has the larger population base – “How did they end up with fewer top schools?”
Some point to the fact that Washington County continues to see some of the highest income levels and the lowest poverty rates anywhere in three Northwest states (according to 2010 U.S. Census data) and that Washington County, with its high tech employers, is also known for having a concentrated population of highly educated and involved parents, who value education.
And the Oregonian noted that Washington County’s Findley Elementary (located in Beaverton), is “a school that may have been primed to earn its top-tier rating, given that the area has a concentration of immigrant parents from China, India and other parts of Asia who ensure their kids perform well in school.) Findley, it should be noted, also has almost no low-income students.
But at least six of these Washington County schools do have a more challenging demographic, with about 40 percent of their students being low-income and a quarter speaking English as a second language. Still, Washington County had two high-poverty elementary schools on the list of top-performers (Raleigh Hills and Greenway) and they’re being hailed as models for the rest of the state.
Others on the list included the 1,500-student Sherwood High, and Arco Iris Spanish Immersion School, a 3-year-old Beaverton charter school with only about 160 students.
