Riverside Middle School, Dearborn Heights MI

Original Research by School Decision on Riverside Middle School

Riverside Middle School sits on Warren Street in Dearborn Heights, serving grades five through eight as part of Crestwood School District. It is a regular public school in an inner-ring suburb of Detroit, a bedroom community about a dozen miles west of downtown. Dearborn Heights is largely built out, car-dependent, with commercial strips along arterial roads and no traditional downtown core. The city has been losing population in recent years, and housing here is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Home values in the school's ZIP code sit well below the Michigan median, and rents are modest, with the estimated monthly rent running below what a mortgage would cost at current rates. For a family weighing where to settle in Wayne County, this is a comparatively accessible entry point into homeownership.

The school itself is sizable for a middle school, with enrollment spread across four grades. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the broader economic profile of the surrounding community. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with small representation from other racial and ethnic groups. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported in the available sources, so those figures are left out rather than estimated.

On state assessments, Riverside's results tell a mixed but informative story. In English language arts, the school's strongest showing comes in eighth grade, where a majority of tested students reached proficiency on the PSAT. Fifth-grade ELA is also the school's relative bright spot across the M-STEP grades. Middle-grade ELA results dip, with sixth and seventh grade proficiency sitting lower. In math, the pattern is less encouraging: proficiency declines as students move up, with eighth-grade math on the PSAT landing quite low, and fifth-grade math the strongest of the four grades tested. Science and social studies results are also modest across the grades where those subjects are assessed. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it above the midpoint among schools in Wayne County districts, which is a reasonably solid standing given the county's size and diversity. That said, the downward slide in math proficiency from fifth through eighth grade is a pattern a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly if a child is approaching the upper grades.

No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over time. Participation rates were also missing from the state data. Because Riverside is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the comparison set.

The broader community context shapes what Riverside is. Dearborn Heights is split among five school districts, and Crestwood is one of them, with Crestwood High School as the feeder destination for Riverside students. The city has two public libraries, a justice center, and parks, but civic and institutional anchors are dispersed rather than concentrated. Most residents commute by car, and the nearest major employment center is the broader Metro Detroit area, including nearby Dearborn, home to Ford Motor Company headquarters. The local economy within Dearborn Heights is anchored in retail, healthcare, and food services. For families already in or considering the Crestwood district, the housing market offers relatively low-cost ownership and rental options, though the area's population decline and aging suburban infrastructure are part of the trade-off.

No district-level information on recent curriculum changes, bond issues, construction, or strategic initiatives was available in the sources, so those topics are left out. What the available data does convey is a middle school serving a working-class community with above-average proficiency standing in its county, a clear strength in upper-grade English, a visible weakness in upper-grade math, and a peer environment that is economically and demographically narrower than much of Wayne County. Families looking for an affordable suburban setting with a straightforward public-school pathway may find Riverside worth a closer look, with questions about math instruction in the upper grades and about support services, where the data was silent.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 33%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 47%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 62%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 16%

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolCrestwood School District, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income63%21 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income43%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income29%Higher-income58%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income57%Higher-income75%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income50%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income38%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income28%Higher-income55%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income19%Higher-income21%2 pp gap