Jefferson High School

Set in Portland, Oregon, Jefferson High School is a small high school, part of Portland SD 1J. It educates 456 students across grades 9 through 12. Compared to the state average of about 630 students per school, that is 28% smaller than typical.

Within Portland SD 1J, which oversees 86 schools and 41,894 students, Jefferson High School is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Jefferson High School shows that 46% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 21% Hispanic, 16% White, 13% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 6% Black, putting the school's mix visibly more Black than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school employs 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 13.1:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 19.8:1 average. Roughly 99% of students at Jefferson High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Multnomah County runs at roughly 75%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Jefferson High School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 24.3%; this one delivers 14.0%.

In the surrounding community, the surrounding county (Multnomah County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $88,766 per year, 49% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Jefferson High School is one of 169 public schools in Multnomah County (combined enrollment of about 81,096 students).

Nearest neighbor: The Ivy School, around 0.5 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Jefferson High School comes 7th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 43.7%.

Jefferson High School operates from a city-core location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Jefferson High School has shrank 33%, going from 676 students in 2018 to 456 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 28% to 16% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 16.8:1 in 2018 to 13.1:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.