The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 27% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Meadow Brook Elementary School
Meadow Brook Elementary School sits in the Forest Hills Public Schools district on the southeast side of the Grand Rapids mailing area, in a zip code where home values run well above both state and national norms. The housing market here is competitive but not frenzied: listings sit for roughly a month, and the typical home value has crept upward at a steady single-digit annual pace. Rents are moderately priced relative to local incomes, and buying costs more than renting by a clear margin. For a family weighing this area, the housing is expensive by Michigan standards, which shapes the school community.
Meadow Brook serves kindergarten through fourth grade and has an enrollment in the mid-400s, which is a comfortable size for an elementary school. The grade distribution is balanced, with no single grade dominating. The student body is majority white, with a sizable Asian population and a meaningful share of students identifying as two or more races. Hispanic and Black students each make up a smaller portion. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a modest share for the region. The school does not report IEP counts or English-learner counts, so families looking for information about special-education services or language support may want to ask the school directly.
Academically, Meadow Brook posts strong proficiency numbers on Michigan's M-STEP assessment. In third grade, roughly two-thirds of students reached proficiency in both math and English language arts. In fourth grade, ELA proficiency climbed higher, with about three-quarters of students proficient, while math proficiency dipped somewhat. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency lands in the top quartile among Kent County districts, which is a clear strength. The average scale scores are solid across the board. One caveat: the only available science result dates back several testing cycles and reflects a much lower proficiency level, but that result is stale enough that it should not be read as a current indicator. The state moved fourth-grade science testing to a different grade in subsequent years, so a current science comparison is not available from the data.
The school sits within Forest Hills Public Schools, a district publicly recognized as one of the stronger systems in the Grand Rapids region. The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes or controversies from recent reporting, which means families are not walking into a situation marked by recent upheaval, though it also means there is little public signal about strategic initiatives to weigh.
Grand Rapids itself, as the broader city this address falls within, is Michigan's second-largest urban center and the economic anchor of West Michigan. The city carries a legacy as a furniture-manufacturing town that has diversified into healthcare, education, and technology. The Medical Mile corridor near downtown represents a major concentration of health-science institutions and investment. Cultural amenities include museums, a presidential library, Frederik Meijer Gardens, Van Andel Arena, and the annual ArtPrize competition. The downtown core is walkable and active, though the outer neighborhoods where Meadow Brook sits are more car-dependent. Major employers such as Corewell Health, Meijer, and Steelcase shape the regional economy. For a family at Meadow Brook, this means access to a mid-sized city's cultural and employment assets while living in a quieter, more affluent residential pocket on the eastern edge of the metro.
What the data does not cover is worth naming. There is no information on staffing ratios, teacher experience, class sizes, discipline outcomes, attendance, or chronic absenteeism. There is no program-specific detail, so whether the school offers art, music, language instruction, or extracurriculars is not visible from what was provided. No locale classification was reported, and Title I status was not available. Families for whom these details matter should go to the school or district directly. What the available evidence does show is a well-performing elementary school with strong test results, a moderately diverse student body for the area, and a surrounding community where housing costs reflect the desirability of the Forest Hills district.
See more original research from School Decision →