Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School vs Llewellyn Elementary School

Both schools rank among Oregon's top elementary schools, but Llewellyn Elementary School holds the edge in overall standing: #22 of 1,226 Oregon schools versus Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School at #34 of 1,226. The overall rating gap between the two is narrow — 9.3 vs. 9.1 out of 10 — but that gap widens considerably when you look at individual components, and the two schools serve meaningfully different student populations across their 5.6 miles of Portland geography.

The sharpest contrast is academic proficiency. Llewellyn Elementary School scores 9.9/10 on academics against Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School's 7.4/10 — a 2.5-point difference that reflects substantially higher tested proficiency rates. The growth story flips that script: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School earns a 9.9/10 growth score, a full point above Llewellyn Elementary School's 9.0. That means students at MLK Jr. School are advancing at an exceptional rate relative to their starting points, even while absolute proficiency levels trail Llewellyn's. Parents weighing a high baseline versus accelerated trajectory will find these two schools pulling in opposite directions.

The demographic and structural differences are just as pronounced. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School enrolls 305 students with 73% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch; Llewellyn Elementary School enrolls 393 students with only 19% FRL-eligible. The student-teacher ratio at MLK Jr. School is 13.9:1, compared to 15.7:1 at Llewellyn — giving MLK Jr. School smaller class sizes despite serving a far higher share of economically disadvantaged students. That combination of greater need and more individualized attention helps explain the exceptional growth score.

One structural difference: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School serves pre-kindergarten through 5th grade, giving families access to PK enrollment that Llewellyn Elementary School, which starts at kindergarten, does not offer. Both schools cap at 5th grade, making the PK entry point the sole grade-level distinction between them.