Maplewood Elementary School vs Markham Elementary School

Maplewood Elementary School and Markham Elementary School sit 1.5 miles apart in Portland, Oregon and serve the same KG–05 grade span, yet their profiles diverge in meaningful ways. Maplewood holds a narrow 0.2-point overall edge — 9.5/10 versus Markham's 9.3/10 — but both rank among Oregon's top 30 elementary schools out of 1,226 statewide, with Maplewood at #13 and Markham at #29. Parents choosing between them are comparing two genuinely strong schools, not a strong one against a weak one.

On academics, Markham Elementary School actually leads: its academic score of 9.4/10 tops Maplewood's 9.2/10, meaning proficiency and test-score outcomes skew slightly higher at the larger school. Where Maplewood pulls ahead decisively is growth: its 9.8/10 growth score versus Markham's 9.4/10 means students at Maplewood are advancing relative to their own starting points at a faster rate. For families who weight year-over-year progress — especially for kids entering below grade level — that 0.4-point growth gap is the most actionable difference on the scorecard.

The demographic split between the two schools is the starkest contrast. Markham Elementary School enrolls 402 students to Maplewood's 301, and 64% of Markham's students qualify for free or reduced lunch compared to 23% at Maplewood. Maplewood's student-teacher ratio is 20.1:1 versus Markham's more favorable 16.1:1 — Markham has meaningfully smaller class sizes despite its larger total enrollment, a direct result of higher Title I resource allocation that typically accompanies elevated FRL rates.

Both schools cover kindergarten through fifth grade and operate within Portland Public Schools, so curriculum frameworks and district oversight are shared. The differentiation comes down to school culture and community composition: Maplewood serves a lower-poverty population with exceptional momentum scores, while Markham demonstrates strong academic outcomes in a higher-need setting with tighter student-to-teacher staffing.