The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Math. The lowest is 23% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Sister Lakes Elementary School
Sister Lakes Elementary is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, part of the Dowagiac Union School District. The enrollment is small for its grade band. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a large Hispanic minority and a small number of students identifying as multiracial, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Black.
State testing results from the most recent M-STEP administration show math proficiency sitting in a narrow band across third, fourth, and fifth grades, with each grade landing close to the others. English language arts results show more variation, with third grade noticeably lower than fourth and fifth. Fifth-grade ELA is the strongest result in the building. Science and social studies, tested only in fifth grade, show science landing close to the math range while social studies sits lower. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint relative to districts in Van Buren County, which is the comparison set used here. That positioning is a genuine strength given the economic profile of the student body, and it suggests the school is producing results that outpace many of its county peers.
The third-grade ELA result is the clearest soft spot in the data. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly how early literacy instruction and intervention are structured in the primary grades, since the same cohort's fourth-grade ELA result rises substantially. Whether that jump reflects effective mid-elementary instruction or a cohort difference is something the school can speak to.
No state testing data is available for kindergarten, first, or second grade because those grades are not assessed under Michigan's M-STEP system. This is standard and does not reflect a gap in the school's performance.
IEP and English learner counts were not reported in the data we received, so we cannot describe the special education or English learner populations. A parent whose child receives these services should ask the school directly about support staffing and program availability.
No graduation rate applies here because the school serves only elementary grades. No chronic absenteeism data was available. Discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance figures were also absent from the data, so we cannot speak to those dimensions. No program offerings data was provided, so we cannot describe extracurriculars, interventions, or enrichment programs.
The housing market context for the school's area is drawn from Cass County, where the Dowagiac district is based. Home values there are well below the state benchmark and sit at a modest ratio to typical household income, making this one of the more affordable housing markets in the region. No rental data was available for the area. The locale brief provided covers Benton Harbor, which shares a mailing address with the school but is a separate city facing its own economic challenges, including population decline, a history of industrial job loss, and a lead service line replacement effort recently completed. The school's physical location along the M-152 corridor places it in a more rural setting than that brief suggests, and the housing data from Cass County likely reflects the immediate area better than the Benton Harbor city figures. Whirlpool Corporation is the dominant employer in the broader region, with its headquarters in nearby Benton Charter Township.
We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in the Dowagiac Union School District but found little publicly reported, so we left that section out rather than guess. A family considering this district should ask the school office about current strategic priorities, class sizes, and any program additions or changes planned for coming years.
The school's tested outcomes place it in a reasonable position within its county peer set, particularly in math and upper-elementary ELA. For a family weighing affordability and a small-school environment, Sister Lakes offers that combination. The third-grade ELA result and the missing data on special populations are the items most worth probing before enrolling.
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