Atkinson Elementary School vs Glencoe Elementary School

Atkinson Elementary School and Glencoe Elementary School sit just 0.9 miles apart in Portland and serve identical grade bands (KG–05), but their state rankings tell a meaningful story: Glencoe Elementary School ranks #20 of 1,226 schools in Oregon while Atkinson Elementary School ranks #27 of 1,226 — both in Oregon's top 2.2%, yet Glencoe holds a clear edge in the statewide standing. Overall ratings reflect the same margin, with Glencoe scoring 9.3/10 against Atkinson's 9.2/10 — a razor-thin gap that obscures sharper differences in the underlying components.

The academic score is where the two schools diverge most clearly. Glencoe Elementary School earns a 9.9/10 academic score versus Atkinson Elementary School's 9.1/10 — a 0.8-point gap that represents the largest performance difference between these two schools. Growth scores are nearly identical: Glencoe at 9.6/10 and Atkinson at 9.5/10, meaning both schools are adding comparable value to student learning year over year. Families prioritizing raw academic proficiency will find the difference at Glencoe significant; those focused on how much students improve annually will find the schools essentially equivalent.

Atkinson Elementary School enrolls 366 students against Glencoe's 372 — effectively the same size. The more notable gap is in student-teacher ratio: Atkinson operates at 16.6 students per teacher versus Glencoe's 18.6, giving Atkinson two fewer students per classroom on average. Atkinson also serves a higher share of economically disadvantaged students, with 34% qualifying for free or reduced lunch compared to 21% at Glencoe Elementary School — a 13-percentage-point difference that reflects distinct neighborhood demographics and may influence school culture and resource allocation.

Both schools cover kindergarten through fifth grade, so families with children at either end of the elementary span face no structural differences in grade offerings. The key distinction is that Glencoe's academic proficiency advantage is concentrated without a corresponding class-size advantage — Atkinson's lower student-teacher ratio of 16.6:1 gives it an instructional environment edge that partially offsets the proficiency gap, making the choice more nuanced than the top-line numbers suggest.