Thomas a Edison Elem School, Fraser MI

Original Research by School Decision on Thomas a Edison Elem School

Thomas A. Edison Elementary sits in Fraser, a residential suburb northeast of Detroit, and serves children from preschool through sixth grade as part of Fraser Public Schools. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is moderate for an elementary building spanning that many grades. The student body is diverse for Macomb County. A majority of students are white, with a substantial Black enrollment and a smaller group identifying as two or more races. Asian and Hispanic students each represent a thin slice. Well over half the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to a working-class population. Data on English learners and special education counts was not available, so those dimensions of the student body could not be assessed here.

On state testing, the picture is mixed and shifts by grade and subject. Third graders performed respectably in both math and English language arts, with nearly half reaching proficiency in math and a smaller but solid share in ELA. Fourth grade dipped in both subjects. Fifth grade is the soft spot: math proficiency fell sharply, ELA was lower still, and science landed at a modest level while social studies was quite low. Sixth grade rebounded, with ELA standing out as the strongest single result across all grades and subjects and math recovering to a middling level. The pattern suggests some inconsistency in how cohorts perform as they move through the building, and the fifth-grade results across multiple subjects are the area a parent may want to look into further with the school. Compared with other districts in Macomb County, Edison's overall proficiency sits just below the midpoint, close to the county median but not above it.

Because this is an elementary building, there is no graduation rate to report, and that metric does not apply here. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. Multi-year trend data was also absent, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over time. Information on staffing ratios, discipline, course access, and attendance was not provided, and no program offerings were listed. The data gaps are substantial enough that a family evaluating this school would benefit from asking the building directly about teacher retention, intervention supports, and what enrichment or special services are available.

Fraser itself is a car-dependent suburb with a commercial and manufacturing corridor along Groesbeck Highway. The city grew rapidly decades ago but has been largely built out since, with population flat to slightly declining in recent estimates. Housing here is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. The typical home value sits below the state figure and well below the national one. The county market currently shows a healthy supply of active listings with homes spending roughly a month on the market, suggesting a buyer-friendly environment with moderate demand. Publicly reported sources note that healthcare and manufacturing are meaningful employment sectors locally, and the city is within the SMART bus service area, though specific transit route detail was not available.

For a family weighing Edison, the school offers a standard public elementary pathway through sixth grade in a community where housing costs are manageable and the built environment is established suburban. The academic results are neither standout nor alarming, though the fifth-grade proficiency levels across several subjects are the clearest reason to ask questions. The diverse student body and the working-class character of the enrollment shape the peer environment in ways some families will see as a positive. What the data cannot answer is how the school supports students who are struggling, how staffing has held up, and whether the weaker grade-level results reflect a transient cohort or a systemic gap. Those conversations would be the natural next step.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 46% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 35% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 35% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 39% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 38% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 38% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 654%

School 54% · District 51% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Science

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 34% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 20% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

This schoolFraser Public 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-income35%Higher-income62%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income26%Higher-income43%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income47%35 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income71%35 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income44%Higher-income62%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income43%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income55%33 pp gap