The top reported proficiency rate is 54% in Science. The lowest is 39% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Escanaba Upper Elementary
Escanaba Upper Elementary sits on Ludington Street in the heart of Escanaba, serving grades three through five as part of Escanaba Area Public Schools. The school sits in a compact port city that doubles as the Delta County seat, a place where civic life, school administration, and commerce cluster along a traditional downtown grid. The surrounding community is built around manufacturing and regional services, with the Billerud paper mill on the city's outskirts remaining its largest employer, and the city functioning as a hub for government, healthcare, and industry across the central Upper Peninsula. Publicly reported sources describe a waterfront setting on Little Bay de Noc, with recreational anchors like the beach-house, the Escanaba River, and nearby Hiawatha National Forest giving families outdoor access close to home.
The school's enrollment is moderate for a three-grade upper elementary, with each grade level carrying roughly the same number of students. The student body is predominantly white, with small representation from American Indian or Alaska Native students, multiracial students, and a handful of other groups. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Information on English learners and special education populations was not available in the data we received, so we cannot speak to those figures. A parent may want to ask the school directly about its special populations services.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessments for the most recent school year, Escanaba Upper Elementary produced results that land in a middling-to-solid range. In math, proficiency held fairly steady across all three grades, with roughly half of tested students reaching proficiency in third grade and a slightly lower share in fifth. English language arts followed a similar pattern in third and fourth grade, but fifth grade showed a clear lift, with a bare majority of students clearing the proficiency bar. Science, tested only in fifth grade, was the school's relative bright spot, with just over half of students rated proficient. Social studies, also a fifth-grade-only test, was the soft spot, with fewer than two-fifths of students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to look into the social studies result further with the school to understand what drives that gap relative to other subjects.
Measured against its Delta County peers, the school's overall proficiency index sits in the top quartile among the county's districts, above the county median and near the top of the range. This positions Escanaba Upper Elementary as one of the stronger performers in its immediate region, even though absolute proficiency levels leave room for growth, particularly in social studies and in the earlier grades of English language arts.
Because this school serves only grades three through five, there is no graduation rate to report, and that metric simply does not apply here. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. We also looked for discipline figures, course access details, staffing ratios, and attendance data and found none reported, so those aspects of the school environment cannot be characterized from the available information. No multi-year trend data was provided, so we cannot say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over time. The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes with lasting impact from recent years.
Housing in the school's zip code is affordable by any standard benchmark. Home values sit well below both the state and national medians, and the price-to-income ratio suggests that a family earning a typical income faces a relatively accessible path to ownership. At the same time, values have been appreciating at a brisk pace recently, meaning buyers may encounter a tighter market than long-time residents are accustomed to. No rental data was available for this area. For a family weighing a move to Escanaba, the combination of modest housing costs, a traditional downtown, and a school that performs above the county midpoint makes this a practical option worth a closer look.
See more original research from School Decision →