Durfee Elementarymiddle School, Detroit MI

Original Research by School Decision on Durfee Elementarymiddle School

Durfee Elementary-Middle School sits on Tuxedo Street in Detroit, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as part of Detroit Public Schools Community District. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it operates as a neighborhood-based campus within a city where schools are distributed across residential areas rather than clustered on a single campus. The surrounding community is one of the most storied urban environments in the country. Detroit is a major center of the American automotive industry, with General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis all anchored in the metro region, and the city carries deep cultural weight through its contributions to music, architecture, and design. Revitalization has been underway since the early 2000s, with riverfront redevelopment, historic theater restorations, and new residential construction concentrated in Midtown, Corktown, and the East Riverfront. The city has recently seen modest population growth after decades of decline, buoyed by immigration and new housing.

The school's enrollment is moderate for a combined elementary-middle campus. Its student body is almost entirely Black, and a very large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and special education populations was not available, so those dimensions of the school's student profile remain unclear from the information provided.

On state assessments, Durfee's proficiency rates are low across every tested subject and grade band. In mathematics, the share of students meeting proficiency benchmarks is in the single digits or near zero for most grades, with the third grade posting the strongest result at a still-modest level. English language arts follows a similar pattern, though eighth grade stands out as a relative bright spot, with a meaningfully higher share of students reaching proficiency than in the lower grades. Science and social studies results are also low, with fifth-grade proficiency near zero in both subjects and eighth-grade results somewhat stronger. When measured against other districts in Wayne County, Durfee sits in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. A parent weighing this school may want to look into what academic supports and interventions are in place and how the school communicates student progress to families.

Because Durfee does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and that absence reflects the grade band the school serves rather than any performance gap. The same applies to AP, dual-credit, and career pathway data, which typically apply to high schools and were not present in the school's records. Program offerings, course access, staffing levels, discipline data, and chronic absenteeism figures were not available in the data provided, so those areas cannot be characterized here. What is publicly known is that the district announced a multi-year facilities improvement plan to renovate and modernize school buildings across Detroit Public Schools Community District, which could affect the learning environment at Durfee during renovation periods.

The housing market around the school's zip code is very affordable compared with state and national benchmarks. Home values are well below the state median and have declined over the past year, while rents have risen modestly. Wayne County's broader market shows a high volume of active listings and homes moving at a moderate pace. For families considering the neighborhood, housing costs are low relative to income, which may make the area accessible, though the declining home values reflect broader economic conditions in parts of the city still working through decades of disinvestment.

Durfee is a school serving a community in transition, embedded in a city with ambitious redevelopment efforts and a district investing in facilities. Its academic results, as captured in the most recent state assessments, indicate that most students are not yet meeting proficiency benchmarks, and the school's position relative to its Wayne County peers reflects that reality. Families considering Durfee would benefit from direct conversation with school leadership about instructional approach, available student supports, and how the campus is changing under the district's improvement plans.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 16%

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 410%

School 10% · District 13% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 9% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 79%

School 9% · District 13% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 10% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 310%

School 10% · District 13% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 45%

School 5% · District 15% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 36 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 17% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 66%

School 6% · District 17% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 712%

School 12% · District 16% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 31% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Science

Grade 56%

School 6% · District 13% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 17% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 21% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

This schoolDetroit Public Schools Community 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.