Britton Deerfield Schooldeerfield Building, Deerfield MI

Original Research by School Decision on Britton Deerfield Schooldeerfield Building

Britton Deerfield School's Deerfield Building sits on Deerfield Highway, a short distance from the compact village center along Carey Street. The school serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in a single building, and it is the product of a consolidation that brought together the Britton and Deerfield communities. Deerfield itself is a small agricultural village on the far eastern edge of Lenawee County, positioned about ten miles west of Adrian and roughly fifteen miles from Toledo, Ohio. A large grain elevator anchors the local economy, alongside a few dozen small businesses. The River Raisin flows along the village's southern border. Many residents commute to nearby towns for work, and the community has been experiencing a modest population decline. Housing here is relatively affordable compared with the state as a whole, with typical home values sitting below the Michigan benchmark, and the price-to-income ratio suggests that ownership remains within reach for working families earning near the national median.

The school is small for its grade band, with only a few dozen students per grade in the tested years. Its student body is predominantly white, with very small numbers of Hispanic, Asian, multiracial, and Black students. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The district did not report Individualized Education Program counts or English learner figures, so those data are not available. Because this building stops at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate, and that is expected for a school with this grade configuration.

On Michigan's M-STEP assessments, the most recent results paint a mixed but generally sobering picture. Fourth graders performed strongest, with a majority reaching proficiency in math and nearly half in English language arts. Fifth grade also showed moderate proficiency in ELA and science. From sixth grade onward, results dip more noticeably. In math, fifth and seventh grade proficiency fell into a very low reported range, and eighth grade math proficiency on the PSAT was quite low. ELA held somewhat steadier through the upper grades, with roughly a third to two-fifths of students proficient. Science and social studies results for the tested grades were modest as well. When compared across Lenawee County districts, this school's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint, with several neighboring districts posting stronger combined results.

The proficiency figures for the upper elementary and middle grades suggest that students may face growing academic demands as they advance, particularly in mathematics. A parent considering this school for a middle-grade child may want to look into what supports and interventions the school offers for students who are not yet meeting state benchmarks.

The community context is one of quiet rural life. No major new housing developments or civic growth projects surfaced in publicly reported sources, and the village has no identified parks, libraries, or transit systems of its own. The school functions as a primary civic anchor, sitting apart from the small downtown on its highway-fronting campus. For families drawn to a close-knit, small-town environment with affordable housing and a short commute to regional employment centers, Deerfield offers that setting. The academic results, particularly in the upper grades, are the area where prospective parents would most want to ask direct questions of school leadership before making a decision.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 14%

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

English language arts

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

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

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 826%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 31%

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

This schoolBritton Deerfield 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 7Lower-income42%Higher-income42%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income39%11 pp gap