The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Clio Elementary
Clio Elementary sits in the heart of a small, compact city in Genesee County, part of the Flint metropolitan area. Clio retains a small-town character with a historic downtown core along Vienna Street, and the city's tiny footprint means civic and school facilities sit close to one another rather than on distant campuses. The city was publicly reported as a past participant in Michigan's Blueprints for Downtowns program, a market-driven effort to concentrate economic activity and job creation in the downtown area. Parks, a modest trail network, and the historic Clio Depot museum anchor community life. The city has seen a slight population decline over recent decades, and no major new housing developments surfaced in available sources.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through third grade, which means only third graders participate in state M-STEP testing. There is no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism figure, and no higher-grade course data, because none of those apply to an early-elementary building. The data we have is a narrow but useful slice: third-grade math and English language arts proficiency from the most recent assessment cycle. Both subjects show results in the upper portion of the range for Genesee County districts, above the county midpoint. That positioning is a meaningful data point for parents weighing this school against others in the area. A single older science result exists from when the building operated under a different name and served a grade four cohort, but that assessment no longer applies to the current grade configuration, so it tells you little about the school as it stands today.
The student body is sizable for an early-elementary building, with enrollment spread across kindergarten and the first three grades. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic conditions of the surrounding community. The student population is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on English learners and special-education enrollment was not reported, so those dimensions of the student experience are gaps a parent may want to ask the school about directly. No discipline, staffing, or attendance figures were available either, which limits the picture of day-to-day school climate.
Clio Area School District has been in a period of facility investment. In late 2022, voters approved a bond proposal that carried no expected tax-rate increase and is funding HVAC upgrades, safety and security enhancements, classroom modernization with updated technology and furniture, and athletic facility improvements. Construction is ongoing across the district. For a family with young children entering Clio Elementary, that means the building and its classrooms are receiving tangible upgrades, though the timeline for specific work at this school is a detail worth confirming with the district.
The housing market around Clio is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the state median and considerably below the national figure, and the price-to-income ratio remains modest. Countywide, listing prices have been climbing, and homes are spending less time on the market than a year ago, suggesting a market with growing demand but still within reach for many working families compared with larger metro areas. Rental data was not available.
What this adds up to is a small-town early-elementary school with test results that hold their own among county peers, a student body where economic need is common, and a district actively investing in its buildings. Families looking for a close-knit community setting with affordable housing and a school performing above the county midpoint on available measures will find a reasonable match here. The gaps in reported data on special populations, staffing, and school climate are worth filling through direct conversation with the school before making a final call.
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