Brimley Area School, Brimley MI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Brimley Area School

Brimley Area School sits along the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, serving the small unincorporated community of Brimley in Chippewa County. It is a single-building school covering prekindergarten through twelfth grade, which gives families in this remote rural area a continuous academic pathway without transfers or building changes. The community itself is small and auto-dependent, stretched along a state highway corridor that connects to M-28. Brimley State Park lies immediately to the east, and the Bay Mills Indian Community, including its resort, casino, and tribal college, sits just to the west. The nearest larger civic center is Sault Ste. Marie, a short drive northeast. Publicly reported sources describe a community with limited commercial infrastructure and no identified public transit or library specific to Brimley.

The school's enrollment is modest for a PK-12 institution. Its student body is nearly evenly split between American Indian or Alaska Native students and white students, with small numbers from other racial and ethnic groups. Just over half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special education enrollment and English learner status was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here. A parent wanting to understand how the school serves students with identified disabilities or language learners may want to look into this further with the school directly.

On Michigan's M-STEP assessments, the most recent results show real variation across grade levels and subjects. In English language arts, the upper elementary and middle grades produced some of the stronger outcomes, with sixth grade and eighth grade standing out as particularly solid. Third and fourth grade ELA results were more middling, and seventh grade dipped lower. Math followed a similar uneven pattern: third, fourth, and sixth grades showed respectable proficiency, while seventh grade math was a clear soft spot and fifth grade was also lower. Science and social studies results for the tested grades landed in a lower range. The picture overall is one of a school that does well in certain pockets, especially in the middle grades for ELA, but has grade levels where fewer students reach proficiency. A parent considering this school for a specific grade might ask how the school addresses the dips that appear in the data.

Against its comparison set, Brimley's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Chippewa County. That positioning reflects those stronger grade-level results pulling the school's average above the county median, even with the lower-performing grades included.

Graduation rate data was not available for this school in the provided materials. Chronic absenteeism data was also missing. Without those measures, the full picture of student outcomes through high school is incomplete. The school does serve high school grades, so the absence of a reported graduation rate here is a data gap rather than a structural reason it would not apply.

Housing in the Brimley ZIP code is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the Michigan statewide figure and far below the national one. Recent appreciation has been strong, with values rising at a faster clip than the state average over the past year, though the baseline remains low enough that the area stays accessible for families buying in. The broader economic context includes a national unemployment rate holding steady and mortgage rates in the mid-six range, which shapes what a family's monthly cost looks like even in an affordable market.

No recent district-level changes meeting a lasting-impact threshold for parents were identified in the available research. The district brief turned up basic fiscal and profile information but no curriculum overhauls, referendum activity, or pedagogy shifts that would alter a family's decision in the near term.

For a family drawn to a small, rural, culturally diverse school where children stay in one building from early childhood through graduation, Brimley offers that continuity. The academic results are genuinely strong in some grades and subjects, and the school compares well within its county. The uneven performance across other grade levels, and the missing data on graduation and chronic absenteeism, are areas worth direct conversation with the school before deciding.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 25 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,027 schools plotted. 80 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 54%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 33 pts above state median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 5 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 346%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 36 pts above state median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 872%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Science

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 1 pts below state median

This schoolBrimley Area Schools, 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 3Lower-income27%Higher-income59%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income39%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income54%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income62%Higher-income74%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income25%Higher-income43%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income68%Higher-income74%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income36%Higher-income65%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income33%Higher-income61%28 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income62%Higher-income61%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income36%9 pp gap