The top reported proficiency rate is 26% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Atherton Jr Sr High School
Atherton Jr/Sr High School sits on South Genesee Road in Burton, a suburb of Flint in Genesee County. The school serves grades seven through twelve as a regular public school within Atherton Community Schools, one of three districts located entirely within Burton's city limits. The city itself grew from an agricultural community into a sprawling suburban residential area, with no traditional walkable downtown. Civic life centers on a municipal campus on South Center Road, and the city's park system includes Kelly Lake Park, Settlement Park along Thread Creek, and the For-Mar Nature Preserve and Arboretum. Burton's population has seen a slow, steady decline in recent years, and the community is car-dependent by nature, with commute patterns reflecting its suburban character.
The school is small for a combined junior-senior high serving six grade levels. Its enrollment is modest, with each grade cohort roughly similar in size. The student body is diverse: white students form the largest group, followed by Black students, with a smaller Hispanic presence and a notable share of students identifying as two or more races. A very large proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions in the surrounding community. Information on English learner status and individualized education program rates was not available in the data provided.
State assessment results from the most recent year show a school working from a low proficiency base. In seventh-grade math, only a small fraction of tested students reached proficiency. Eighth-grade math, assessed through the PSAT, showed a similarly low rate. English language arts results were mixed: seventh-grade proficiency was low, while eighth-grade ELA reached a moderate level, the strongest result across the tested subjects and grades. Science proficiency in eighth grade was low, and social studies proficiency in eighth grade was also low. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Genesee County. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking about instructional strategies, intervention programs, and how the school plans to support students toward grade-level mastery.
The eighth-grade ELA result stands out as a bright spot within an otherwise challenging academic picture. It suggests that some students are finding their footing in literacy as they move through the middle grades, even though math remains a persistent struggle across both seventh and eighth grades.
Graduation rate data was not available for this school in the provided information. Chronic absenteeism figures were also missing. These gaps may reflect how the data is reported at the school level rather than any judgment about the school's performance, but a parent would reasonably want to ask the school directly about both graduation outcomes and attendance patterns, since both are central to understanding the high school experience here.
The housing market in the area offers relative affordability compared with state and national benchmarks. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below the state benchmark and roughly half the national figure. The broader Genesee County market has seen rising median listing prices and increased listing activity recently, with homes moving at a moderate pace. Rents in the area remain modest relative to local incomes. For families considering a move into the attendance area, housing costs are unlikely to be a barrier compared with many other parts of Michigan.
We looked for the district's strategic priorities and recent parent-relevant changes but found little publicly reported, so we left that out rather than guess. No information was available on course access, staffing ratios, discipline data, or specific program offerings such as Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, or career and technical education. These are areas a family would want to explore directly with the school, particularly given the junior-senior high structure, where a student's path from seventh grade through graduation is shaped by what the building can offer in the upper grades.
Atherton Jr/Sr High is a small, community-rooted school serving a diverse, economically stressed student population in a quiet suburban setting. Its academic results are currently weak across most tested areas, with one encouraging signal in eighth-grade literacy. Families drawn to a smaller school environment in an affordable community may find it worth a direct conversation about how the school supports student growth from middle school into high school.
See more original research from School Decision →