Bow Elementarymiddle School, Detroit MI

Original Research by School Decision on Bow Elementarymiddle School

Bow Elementary-Middle School sits on Prevost Street in Detroit, serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Detroit Public Schools Community District. It is a regular public school in a city where the district distributes its buildings across residential neighborhoods rather than concentrating them on a single campus. The school's enrollment is small for a building spanning that many grades. Nearly every student is Black, and the vast majority of students come from households qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions of the surrounding area.

State testing data from the most recent year tells a consistent story across grade levels. In math, proficiency is low at every tested grade. Third and fourth graders show the strongest results, with roughly one in seven or eight students reaching proficiency, but by fifth grade the share drops further, and sixth grade shows almost no students meeting the bar. Seventh and eighth grade math results remain in the same low range. The eighth grade takes the PSAT rather than the M-STEP for math, and the reported proficiency there falls to the very bottom of the scale.

English language arts results are somewhat stronger, with a clear pattern of improvement as students move into the upper grades. Third, fourth, and fifth grade ELA proficiency sits below the upper teens, but by sixth grade nearly a quarter of tested students reach proficiency, and seventh grade is close behind. Eighth grade ELA shows the highest proficiency rate in the building, approaching a level where roughly three in ten students meet the standard. Science and social studies results, tested only in fifth and eighth grades, land in the same low range as the early-grade math and ELA scores. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Wayne County, which is the comparison set available for this school.

A few data points parents might expect are missing. The school does not report a graduation rate, which is expected because it does not serve high school grades through twelfth grade. Chronic absenteeism data and individualized education program rates were not available, and English learner counts were not reported. Participation rates for the state assessments were also missing from the data. A parent weighing this school may want to ask the administration about attendance patterns and special education services directly, since those pieces are not visible in the publicly reported figures.

The housing market around Bow reflects the broader Detroit context. Home values in the school's zip code sit well below both the state and national benchmarks, making this one of the more affordable urban areas in the region for families looking to buy. Rents are modest as well. Wayne County as a whole has seen a cooling trend, with listing prices softening modestly year over year and homes sitting on the market longer than they did a year ago. Demand has eased while supply remains ample, which generally favors buyers and renters over sellers.

Detroit itself is a major urban center shaped by its automotive history and decades of population loss, though the city has recently posted two consecutive years of population growth, the first such streak since the middle of the last century. Revitalization has been concentrated in downtown, Midtown, Corktown, and along the riverfront, with new residential development and major infrastructure projects underway. Schools like Bow sit in the residential neighborhoods farther from those investment corridors. At the district level, DPSCD has announced a multi-year facilities improvement plan to renovate and modernize school buildings, which could mean changes to the physical environment at Bow in coming years, along with potential disruptions during construction.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 315%

School 15% · District 16% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 13%

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

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 9% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 713%

School 13% · District 13% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 13%

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

Grade 411%

School 11% · District 15% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 17%

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

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 17% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 16% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 13% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 812%

School 12% · District 17% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 10% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 21% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 12 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.