The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Science. The lowest is 25% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Red Cedar School
Red Cedar School sits on Narcissus Drive in East Lansing, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as one of six elementary schools in the East Lansing School District. The school is a regular public school, neither a charter nor a magnet, and it draws from a community shaped heavily by its proximity to Michigan State University. East Lansing is publicly reported as a college town economically and demographically dominated by the university, one of the largest public institutions in the country. Grand River Avenue separates the campus from downtown, and the surrounding neighborhoods mix student housing with year-round residences. The district itself extends into small portions of neighboring Lansing, Lansing Township, and Meridian Township, and a meaningful share of its students arrive through Michigan's Schools of Choice program. The city has seen a downtown construction boom in recent years, with redevelopment increasing population density, and it has expanded its borders through agreements with surrounding townships. Michigan State University is the dominant employer, and the city also hosts a technology startup incubator and a major university-based credit union. Civic anchors include the East Lansing Public Library, the Broad Art Museum, Beal Botanical Garden, and the MSU Museum, with the Capital Area Transportation Authority providing bus service across the region. Pedestrian and bicycle paths like the Northern Tier Trail and the Lansing River Trail connect parts of the city.
The enrollment at Red Cedar is small for its grade band, and the student body is notably diverse. White students make up the largest single group, but the school also has substantial Asian, Black, and Hispanic populations, along with students identifying as two or more races. A moderate share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.
State testing results from the most recent year show a mixed academic picture that varies widely by grade level. In English language arts, third-grade proficiency was low, fourth grade landed in a middling range, and fifth grade was strikingly strong, with a large majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Math followed a similar uneven pattern, with third grade moderate, fourth grade quite low, and fifth grade well above half. Fifth-grade science was also strong, with most students proficient. Social studies was the weakest tested subject, with only a quarter of fifth graders reaching proficiency. Participation rates were not reported for any grade or subject, so it is unclear how complete the testing picture is. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability.
Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency sits above the midpoint relative to districts in Ingham County. That positioning reflects the strong fifth-grade showing pulling the average up, while the lower third- and fourth-grade results drag it back down. The wide swing between grade levels, particularly in ELA and math, is something a parent may want to look into further with the school. It could reflect cohort differences, instructional transitions, or other factors the data alone does not explain.
Because Red Cedar serves only elementary grades, it has no graduation rate, no chronic absenteeism figure was reported, and no high school course access information applies. The district's secondary students move on to MacDonald Middle School and then East Lansing High School. No data was available on school-level discipline, staffing ratios, attendance, or specific program offerings such as gifted services, arts programming, or extracurriculars, so those aspects are left out rather than guessed at.
The housing market around Red Cedar reflects the broader East Lansing context. Home values in the school's zip code run above the state benchmark but below the national one, and values have been appreciating modestly. Rents are relatively affordable compared with monthly mortgage costs at current interest rates, which may matter to families deciding between renting and buying. The price-to-income ratio sits in a moderate range nationally. East Lansing's real estate has been affected by the downtown redevelopment boom and the city's border expansions, which have added land and density to the community over time.
Red Cedar is a small, diverse elementary school in a university-centered community, with academic results that run strong in the upper grades and weaker in the lower ones. Families considering the school will likely want to ask about how the lower-grade instruction connects to the stronger fifth-grade outcomes, and what the transition into MacDonald Middle School looks like for students coming through this building.
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