The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in English language arts. The lowest is 4% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Dye Elementary School
Dye Elementary School sits on Flint's south side along Graham Road, part of the Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools district. It is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, and its enrollment is sizable for an elementary building in this area, with the largest cohort entering at kindergarten and the remaining grades fairly evenly distributed.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial white population and a meaningful share of students identifying as two or more races. Hispanic and Asian students each make up a small portion, and nearly every student at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The economic context here is central to understanding the school's environment: this is a community where poverty is the norm rather than the exception, and the school serves a population facing the compounding challenges that come with concentrated disadvantage.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessments for the most recent reported year, Dye's results show a clear pattern. English language arts proficiency starts at a moderate level in third grade and then steps down in fourth and fifth. Math follows the same trajectory but at lower levels, with fifth-grade proficiency particularly low. Science proficiency in fifth grade is quite low, and social studies results are lower still. Taken together, Dye's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint among districts in Genesee County. The decline from third to fifth grade is a pattern a parent may want to look into further with the school, as it suggests students are losing ground relative to state expectations as they progress through the upper elementary grades. Participation rates were not reported, so it is not possible to confirm full test participation from the available data.
Because Dye serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate, and that metric does not apply here. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. IEP and English learner counts were missing from the data provided, so the picture of special populations is incomplete.
No data on specific programs, course access, staffing levels, discipline practices, or attendance was available. The school does not carry a charter or magnet designation.
The surrounding community is Flint itself, a mid-sized post-industrial city whose identity was forged around General Motors manufacturing. The city saw decades of population decline and disinvestment after GM drastically reduced its local workforce, and the built environment reflects that history: older residential neighborhoods, vacant lots from demolition activity, a downtown core along Saginaw Street with cultural venues like the Capitol Theatre and the Sloan Museum, and commercial strips along major corridors. Walkability is limited outside the downtown core, and the city is largely auto-dependent. Publicly reported information indicates that since the lead water crisis, the city has secured a new water source, replaced lead service lines with copper, and distributed filters, with community revitalization efforts ongoing but large-scale new housing construction not evidenced.
The housing market around Dye is affordable by both state and national standards. The typical home value in the school's ZIP code sits well below the state benchmark and far below the national one, and rents are modest. The county-level market shows active and new listings trending upward, with median listing prices rising year over year and homes moving at a moderate pace. This is an accessible housing market for families, with monthly ownership costs that compare favorably to renting.
For a family considering Dye, the school offers a conventional public elementary pathway in a community working through long-term economic recovery. The academic results are below the county midpoint and show a downward trend across the tested grades. The student population is majority Black and overwhelmingly economically disadvantaged. The housing is affordable. These are the facts a parent would weigh against their own priorities and against what they learn in conversation with the school itself.
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