Haigh Elementary School, Dearborn MI

Original Research by School Decision on Haigh Elementary School

Haigh Elementary School sits in Dearborn, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit shaped by its industrial heritage and its Arab American community. The school is part of Dearborn City School District and serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Its enrollment is moderate for an elementary building, with fairly even distribution across the grade levels. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small representation from other racial and ethnic groups. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The data does not include English-learner or special-education counts, so those population details are unavailable here.

On Michigan's M-STEP assessments for the most recent school year, Haigh shows a solid academic profile, particularly in English language arts. Third and fourth graders each met proficiency at rates above the majority threshold, and fifth graders did even better, with most students reaching proficiency. Math results are somewhat softer. Third-grade math was the strongest, with most students proficient, while fourth and fifth grades dipped to just over half. Fifth-grade science landed at roughly the same level as math. Social studies was the weakest subject, with only about a third of tested students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to look into how the school approaches social studies instruction if that area is a concern. Taken across all tested subjects and grades, Haigh's overall proficiency lands in the top quartile relative to districts in Wayne County, which is a meaningful strength given the size and diversity of that comparison set.

Because Haigh is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and that absence simply reflects the grade band served rather than any gap in performance. The same is true for college-readiness metrics, which do not apply at this level. Chronic absenteeism data was not available in the provided materials, so it is left out rather than assumed. Participation rates for the state assessments were also missing from the source data.

Dearborn itself is a distinctive place for a family to consider. It is a dense, auto-oriented suburb with major corporate and industrial anchors, most prominently Ford Motor Company, whose world headquarters and River Rouge Complex remain defining features. The city became the first Arab-majority municipality in the United States, and Warren Avenue is lined with Arab American-owned restaurants, markets, and shops that give the area its multicultural character. Institutions are spread across separate campuses rather than concentrated in a single downtown. The University of Michigan-Dearborn, Henry Ford College, the Henry Ford museum complex, and the Arab American National Museum each occupy their own grounds. The city has an extensive parks system and describes itself as having one of the only growing populations in Michigan, with a young age profile.

Housing in the zip code around Haigh is modestly priced relative to both state and national benchmarks, which may make the area relatively accessible for families looking to buy. Wayne County's broader housing market shows a substantial inventory of active listings and a moderate supply score, suggesting buyers have options. Listing prices in the county have softened somewhat compared to the prior year.

At the district level, Dearborn Public Schools launched a Virtual K-12 program that began in 2021 and remains available. It offers fully online instruction with district teachers and is open not only to resident students but also to students across Wayne County. This creates a remote-learning pathway families can consider alongside the in-person experience at Haigh. The district also publicly promotes a free K-14 education model, allowing students to earn an associate degree at no cost, which is a longer-term benefit families may weigh even at the elementary stage.

Haigh fits a family looking for a traditional public elementary school with strong literacy results, a peer environment that is relatively homogeneous, and a community with deep cultural identity and civic resources. The math and social studies results are softer spots worth asking about, and the missing demographic data for special populations means a parent with those questions should go directly to the school for specifics.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 54% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 43% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 41% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 43% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 45% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 49% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Science

Grade 554%

School 54% · District 34% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 26% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

This schoolDearborn City School District, 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-income63%Higher-income57%6 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income60%Higher-income64%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income73%Higher-income75%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income73%Higher-income57%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income46%Higher-income63%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income53%Higher-income55%1 pp gap