Cedar Springs Public Schools, MI

Original Research by School Decision on Cedar Springs Public Schools

Cedar Springs Public Schools is a PK-through-12 district serving a mostly rural and small-town stretch of northern Kent County, with the bulk of its enrollment concentrated in the Cedar Springs area and smaller reaches into Gowen, Sand Lake, Rockford, and Sparta. The district operates eight buildings: two elementary schools, an early childhood center, an intermediate school, a middle school, a main high school, and New Beginnings Alternative High School. The housing stock across the district's zip codes leans affordable relative to the national picture, with home values sitting above the Michigan state benchmark but modestly below the U.S. benchmark. Values have been climbing at a healthy annual clip, and the market moves at a moderate pace, with homes typically spending a little over a month on market. Rent data is thin, drawn from only one contributing zip, so the rental picture is incomplete. Within Kent County's districts, Cedar Springs sits above the midpoint on overall proficiency and in the top quartile for low chronic absenteeism, meaning students show up to school reliably compared with peers across the county. Per-pupil spending lands in the middle-to-upper range among county districts.

The student body is large for a northern Kent County district and overwhelmingly white, with a small Hispanic presence and a similar share of students identifying as two or more races. Other racial and ethnic groups represent very small slices. Free-or-reduced-price lunch counts were not reported, and the same gap appears for special-education and English-learner populations, so the socioeconomic and support-service picture is something a parent would want to ask the district about directly.

Academically, the state testing pattern tells a clear story. Third-grade math is a bright spot, with a solid majority of students reaching proficiency. From there, math proficiency steps down grade by grade through middle school, settling into the lower-middle range by seventh and eighth grade. English language arts follows a similar contour in the elementary and early-middle grades, with fifth grade standing out as the strongest elementary result. Eighth-grade ELA, measured through the PSAT, shows a sharp jump in proficiency, a genuinely strong result that suggests the secondary ELA program is doing something right. Science proficiency is moderate and fairly steady between the two tested grades. Social studies is the weakest subject in fifth grade but rebounds strongly by eighth grade, so the district appears to shore up that content as students move through the upper grades.

The chronic absenteeism figure is a real strength. Cedar Springs reports one of the lower rates among Kent County's districts, and that kind of attendance stability usually underpins everything else a school tries to do. On the spending side, the district invests at a level near the county median, neither lagging nor outspending peers by a wide margin. The district brief notes that Cedar Springs has embraced MTSS, a multi-tiered system of supports, as a current key initiative, and that there was substantial capital outlay in the 2022-2023 period, pointing to facility investment. Beyond that, the brief found no clearly documented programmatic changes with lasting parent impact, and no strategic plan or program offerings were provided in the data.

What is missing matters here. There is no graduation rate for the district, no program or course-access information, no civil-rights data, and no locale brief for the town or surrounding communities. A parent weighing Cedar Springs has a solid academic baseline in the state testing results and a reassuring attendance signal, but would need to go to the district directly for graduation outcomes, advanced-coursework offerings, and the socioeconomic composition of the student body. The schools appear to do their strongest work in the early elementary grades and in eighth-grade ELA, while middle-grade math is the area a parent may want to look into further with the school. For a family drawn to a relatively affordable, small-town corner of Kent County with steady attendance and a broad grade span, Cedar Springs presents a grounded, mid-tier option with clear strengths and identifiable soft spots.

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District Context

Officially reported figures, 2024-25.

Enrollment

3,101

Grades

PK–12

Schools

Student body

Hispanic 6%

Black 0%

White 88%

Asian 0%

Two+ 6%

Am. Indian / AK Native 0%

Hawaiian / Pac. Isl. 0%

By economic status

Percent proficient by grade, as reported

Economically disadvantaged

Not disadvantaged

ELA

Gr 3

31%

56%

Gr 4

30%

48%

Gr 5

35%

59%

Gr 6

22%

48%

Gr 7

24%

46%

Gr 8

61%

78%

Math

Gr 3

41%

72%

Gr 4

39%

48%

Gr 5

26%

55%

Gr 6

23%

46%

Gr 7

24%

42%

Gr 8

24%

42%

Science

Gr 5

40%

62%

Gr 8

31%

62%

Social studies

Gr 5

26%

34%

Gr 8

46%

72%

Schools in this District

8 schools are officially reported under this district.

New Beginnings Alternative High School

Cedar Trails Elementary School

Cedar Springs Middle School

Red Hawk Intermediate

Cedar Springs High School

Cedar View Elementary School

Beach Elementary School

Cedar Springs Early Childhood Center

Academic Performance

Percent of students meeting or exceeding state standards, by grade.

Mathematics

6 grades reported

58%

Grade 3

44%

Grade 4

43%

Grade 5

36%

Grade 6

35%

Grade 7

35%

Grade 8

English Language Arts

6 grades reported

45%

Grade 3

40%

Grade 4

49%

Grade 5

37%

Grade 6

37%

Grade 7

71%

Grade 8

Science

2 grades reported

53%

Grade 5

50%

Grade 8

Social Studies

2 grades reported

31%

Grade 5

61%

Grade 8

Housing & Real Estate

Data as of April 2026 | District-weighted from constituent ZIP codes

Home Values

Typical home value$351,768

Year-over-year change+5.7%

Range across 5 ZIP codes$307K to $457K

vs. state typical1.33x

vs. national typical0.96x

Home value trend (12 months)

ZIP code home values (5 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Value	YoY	Weight
49319	Cedar Springs	$347K	+5.5%	68.9%
49343	Sand Lake	$310K	+6.2%	18.0%
49341	Rockford	$457K	+5.8%	10.7%
49345	Sparta	$340K	+5.7%	1.5%
49326	Gowen	$307K	+5.4%	0.9%

Rental Market

Typical monthly rent$1,968/mo

ZIP code rents (1 ZIP codes)

ZIP	City	Rent/mo	YoY	Weight
49341	Rockford	$1,968	—	10.7%

Affordability

Est. monthly mortgage (20% down at 6.48%)$1,775/mo

Home price / national median income4.2x

Annual rent / national median income28.2%

Rent exceeds est. mortgage by$192/mo

Market Activity: Kent County

Median listing price$399,900

Median listing price YoY+1.2%

Median price per sq ft$222

Median price per sq ft YoY+8.3%

Median days on market34.3 days

Median days on market YoY+12.3%

Active listings784

Active listings YoY-0.1%

New listings948

New listings YoY-2.9%

Pending listings927

Pending listings YoY+2.3%

Hotness: median listing price$389,925

Hotness: median listing price YoY+0.6%

Supply score89.4

Supply score YoY-2.2%

Demand score65.0

Demand score YoY+1.2%

Median listing price (12 months)

Median price per sq ft (12 months)

Median days on market (12 months)

Active listings (12 months)

New listings (12 months)

Pending listings (12 months)

Hotness: median listing price (12 months)

Supply score (12 months)

Demand score (12 months)

Comparison

State typical home value$263,590 (+4.2% YoY)

National typical home value$368,198 (+0.6% YoY)

State ZHVI trend (12 months)

National ZHVI trend (12 months)

Economic Context

30-year fixed mortgage rate6.48%

National unemployment rate4.3%

National median household income$83,730

CPI: Rent of shelter (index)447.05

30-year fixed mortgage rate (12 months)

National unemployment rate (12 months)

National median household income (12 months)

CPI: Rent of shelter (index) (12 months)

Sources: Zillow Home Value Index and Zillow Observed Rent Index (Zillow Group), Realtor.com via Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)

Data Currently Unavailable

Civil Rights Data (CRDC)

This profile is derived exclusively from publicly available federal and state datasets. It may not reflect the most current information available. We encourage parents and families to supplement this data with information published directly on the school’s website, which may include more recent figures, additional programs, or updated enrollment data.