Document Type

Technical Report

Publication Date

11-1-2006

Subjects

Three Rivers School District, Oregon -- Population -- Statistics, School enrollment -- Oregon -- Grants Pass -- Forecasting, School enrollment -- Oregon -- Cave Junction -- Forecasting, Demographic surveys -- Oregon -- Grants Pass, Demographic surveys -- Oregon -- Cave Junction

Abstract

The area served by the Three Rivers School District (TRSD) has experienced population and housing growth in recent years, but the District’s K-12 school enrollment in 2006-07 is 17 percent lower than its 1995-96 peak. Total K-12 enrollment has fallen in each of the past 11 years and is now lower than in any of the past 30 years. Losses have been greatest in the elementary grades (K-5), which enroll 27 percent fewer students than in 1996-97. The middle grades (6-8) have lost 20 percent in enrollment during the same period, while the high school grades (9-12) have lost only three percent. This report presents the results of a forecast conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC) indicating that overall TRSD enrollment will continue to decrease during the next five years, until 2011-12, mostly due to the current smaller elementary and middle school classes moving up to the high school level. Although elementary enrollment is expected to “bottom out” within the next two to four years and begin to grow slightly, the offsetting effect of smaller high school enrollment means that overall K-12 enrollment will be stable at best during the 2011-12 to 2016-17 period. PRC’s methodology links enrollment trends with the area’s population dynamics. As employment, population, and housing growth in the region continues, the enrollment declines should slow, and overall enrollment will stabilize within the 5,000 to 5,100 student range over a period of several years, according to this forecast.

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/8989

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