The top reported proficiency rate is 17% in Science. The lowest is 6% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Comstock Elementary School
Comstock Elementary School sits on the north side of Kalamazoo, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Comstock Public Schools. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws a student body that is modestly diverse. White students make up just over half the enrollment, with Black and Hispanic students forming the next largest groups, and a smaller share identifying as two or more races. A very large proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which tells you something about the economic realities of the surrounding neighborhoods. The school is a good size for an elementary building, with several sections per grade and a kindergarten cohort that is larger than the upper grades.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results paint a difficult picture. Across third, fourth, and fifth grade, proficiency rates in math are low, with fifth grade the weakest. English language arts results are somewhat higher than math but still modest across all three tested grades. Fifth grade science and social studies proficiency are also low. When the school is placed relative to districts in Kalamazoo County, its overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile. This is the kind of pattern a parent would want to look into further with the school, asking what interventions are in place and how the building is working to move students toward grade-level standards.
Because Comstock Elementary ends at fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not have a chronic absenteeism figure in the data provided. IEP and English learner counts were also missing, so those population sizes are not available here. No program offerings, course access details, staffing ratios, or discipline data were included in the payload, so those gaps are left unnamed rather than guessed.
The surrounding community is part of Kalamazoo, a mixed-use city with a walkable downtown built around the Kalamazoo Mall pedestrian shopping area and anchored by Bronson Park. Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College all sit within the city, giving it a young, college-town character. The local economy has pharmaceutical, medical science, and craft brewing employers alongside diversified manufacturing, and the city was historically known for its paper industry and as the original home of Gibson Guitar. The Kalamazoo River and its tributaries wind through town, and the Kalamazoo Nature Center offers trails and live-animal exhibits. The city is accessible via I-94 and serves as the county seat.
Housing in the school's zip code is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the Michigan statewide median and considerably below national figures, and rents are similarly modest. A price-to-income ratio below three suggests that buying a home in this area is within reach for many working households compared with much of the country. Rents have been rising faster year over year than home values, though both remain affordable in absolute terms. For a family considering the area, this is a neighborhood where housing costs are not likely to be the primary barrier.
One thing to note is that Comstock Public Schools is a separate district from Kalamazoo Public Schools, whose graduates benefit from the well-known Kalamazoo Promise scholarship program. That program does not extend to Comstock students, so families weighing the two districts should understand that distinction. Publicly reported material on the Comstock district did not surface recent bond elections, curriculum overhauls, or other major changes, so there is little to report on that front.
What you have here is a neighborhood elementary school in an affordable, mixed-use city with solid civic amenities and a diverse student population carrying real economic need. The academic results are a genuine concern and are the thing a prospective parent should press on hardest. The setting itself offers a lot: walkable downtown, university presence, parks, and cultural anchors. Whether the school is the right fit depends heavily on how it is working to raise those proficiency numbers and what support structures are in place for children arriving below grade level.
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