Elms Elementary School, Flushing MI

Original Research by School Decision on Elms Elementary School

Elms ElementarySchool sits in Flushing, a suburb of Flint that began as a mill town along the Flint River in the mid-1830s. The community retains a historic downtown corridor along Main Street, with Italianate and early twentieth-century commercial buildings forming a walkable core. The Flint River threads through the area, and parks along it shape daily life: Riverview Park, Cornwell Park downtown, and the Flushing Riverview Trail connecting to Flushing County Park. There is no public transit system. The town's population has been essentially flat to slightly declining in recent years, and available sources note no major new housing developments. A wastewater treatment plant upgrade and a library relocation to a new building on Boman Street are the most visible recent civic investments. Against that backdrop, Elms serves grades one through six as a regular public school in the Flushing Community Schools district.

The school's enrollment is moderate for its grade band, and its student body is predominantly white, with smaller Black, Hispanic, and multiracial populations. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and special-education enrollment was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here. Because the school does not include kindergarten or pre-kindergarten in its served grades, and because Michigan begins state testing in third grade, first and second graders at Elms have no state assessment results to report.

On Michigan's M-STEP assessment, the most recent results show a mixed but generally solid picture. In English language arts, third and fourth graders land close to two-fifths proficient, with fifth grade reaching nearly half. Sixth grade dips back below the earlier grades. Math follows a different arc: third and fourth grade sit in the same moderate range as ELA, but fifth and sixth grade math drops noticeably, with roughly a quarter of students reaching proficiency. Science in fifth grade stands out as the school's strongest result, with better than half of tested students proficient. Social studies in fifth grade lands in the middle of the pack. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Genesee County, which is a real strength given the county's wide range of outcomes. The grade five and six math results are the soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly whether the dip reflects a curricular transition, staffing change, or something about that cohort.

No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. Chronic absenteeism data was also not reported. The school does not have a graduation rate, which is expected for an elementary building. No information on program offerings, course access, staffing ratios, or disciplinary data was provided, so those aspects of the school environment cannot be described.

The housing market around Elms is relatively affordable. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit below the state benchmark and well below national figures, though values have been appreciating. The county-level market shows rising listing prices and a modest increase in active inventory, with homes moving at a moderate pace. For a family weighing the area, this means entry costs are lower than in many Michigan markets, but the upward trend in prices is worth watching. No data on rental costs was available for the immediate zip code.

Elms fits families looking for a mid-sized elementary experience in a small-town-suburban setting with a walkable historic core and river-based recreation. Its strongest academic signal is the overall proficiency standing within Genesee County, especially in science. The math results in upper elementary grades are the area that bears the closest attention. The absence of data on absenteeism, staffing, special populations, and programs means a family would want to ask the school directly about those dimensions before drawing a full picture.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 41% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 45% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 42% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 36% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 45% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 45% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 45% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Science

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 58% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 44% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolFlushing Community Schools, 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-income33%Higher-income47%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income67%36 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income52%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income42%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income39%Higher-income37%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income67%36 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income22%Higher-income31%9 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income26%Higher-income26%0 pp gap