The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Math. The lowest is 24% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Bear Lake Elementary School
Bear Lake Elementary School sits in a small rural village on the south shore of its namesake lake in Manistee County. The village, publicly described as primarily a tourist and retirement community with carefully planned lakeside development, is nestled among fruit and vegetable farms. The surrounding township is largely agricultural or forested land, with only a modest residential share. U.S. Route 31 runs along the west and north sides of the village, linking it to Manistee to the southwest and Benzonia to the north. The village is small enough that the school, village offices, and lakefront all sit in close proximity, so school life is woven into the civic center rather than set apart on a separate campus.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and is part of Bear Lake Schools, a district covering most of Bear Lake Township and Pleasanton Township. Enrollment is small, consistent with the village's size. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic minority and a very small number of Black students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education and English learner populations was not reported, so those pictures are incomplete here.
On state assessments, the most recent M-STEP results show a mixed academic profile that varies sharply by grade level. Fourth grade stands out as a clear strength, with a strong majority of students reaching proficiency in both math and English language arts. Third grade math also shows solid results. By contrast, fifth grade results are considerably weaker across the board, with math, ELA, science, and social studies all sitting low. Sixth grade lands in a middle range, with roughly half of tested students proficient in math and ELA. Because each grade cohort is small, a few students moving in or out can shift results noticeably, and a parent may want to look into year-to-year consistency with the school before drawing firm conclusions from a single year.
Against its county peers, Bear Lake Elementary's overall proficiency sits above the midpoint among the districts in Manistee County, based on a composite of reported proficiency rates across tested subjects and grades. That positioning reflects the strength of the upper elementary grades pulling the average up despite the fifth-grade dip. No graduation rate or chronic absenteeism data applies to this school, since it does not serve high school grades and those measures were not reported at this level.
Housing in the Bear Lake zip code carries a typical home value above the Michigan state benchmark but below the national one, with strong recent year-over-year appreciation. The price-to-income ratio sits at a moderate level, and current mortgage rates hover in the mid-six range. Rental data was not available for this area. The village has experienced minimal population growth and may be seeing slight decline, with no major new housing developments identified. The local economy runs on agriculture, tourism tied to the lake and adjacent national and state forests, and oil and natural gas extraction that has been active since the 1970s. No large employers dominate; work is dispersed across small businesses, farms, and seasonal operations. No public library or fixed-route transit was identified for the village, so families likely rely on county-level services.
The district brief turned up no recent referenda, curriculum overhauls, property-tax shifts, or other lasting parent-relevant changes, so there is little to report on that front. What the record does show is a small, rural elementary school with modest class sizes, a student population with real economic need, and assessment results that swing meaningfully from grade to grade. Families considering Bear Lake Elementary would be looking at a close-knit lakeside community where school and civic life overlap, paired with academics that show genuine bright spots in the middle elementary years alongside a fifth-grade cohort that a parent may want to understand better before enrolling.
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