The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 19% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Gaylord Intermediate School
Gaylord Intermediate School sits in the heart of Gaylord, the county seat of Otsego County, a small northern Michigan city that styles itself as an alpine village with Tyrolean architectural motifs across its downtown. The local economy leans heavily on tourism, particularly skiing and golf resorts, with publicly reported descriptions calling the area one of the largest such resort concentrations in the Midwest. Interstate 75 runs just west of the city, connecting Gaylord to the Mackinac Bridge to the north and Saginaw and Detroit to the south. The North Central State Trail, a converted rail line, extends north toward Mackinaw City for biking and snowmobiling. The city has been growing, and in 2022 an EF3 tornado struck the downtown area, causing major damage and prompting a state of emergency declaration and reconstruction effort.
The school serves grades four through six as a regular public school within Gaylord Community Schools. Enrollment is moderate for a three-grade intermediate building, and the student body is predominantly white, with small Hispanic and multiracial populations and very few students from other racial backgrounds. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here. No information on Title I status, staffing ratios, discipline, attendance, or course access was available.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessments for the 2024-25 school year, proficiency patterns show a clear upward trend across grade levels in both math and English language arts. Fourth-grade results are the weakest, with roughly a third of students meeting proficiency in math and ELA. Fifth grade sits in a similar range for math but improves in ELA. Sixth grade is the standout, with nearly half of students proficient in math and just over half proficient in ELA. Fifth-grade science proficiency landed in the mid-thirties, while social studies was notably lower, with fewer than a fifth of tested students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to look into the social studies results further with the school, as this was the weakest reported measure across all subjects and grades. No participation rates were reported, and no multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement or decline from prior years.
Measured against other districts in Otsego County, the school's overall proficiency index lands above the midpoint, meaning its average proficiency across tested subjects and grades is higher than at least one neighboring district but below the top performer in the county. The comparison set is small, limited to the districts within Otsego County, so this positioning reflects a local read rather than a statewide one.
Because the school serves only grades four through six, there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism figure was provided. These gaps reflect the grade band this school serves and the absence of certain data fields rather than any indication of weakness.
The housing market in the 49735 zip code is relatively affordable compared with state and national benchmarks. Home values sit below the Michigan state benchmark and well below the national figure, with a price-to-income ratio that suggests moderate affordability for the area. Mortgage rates used for the affordability calculation were in the mid-six percent range. No rental data was available for this location. We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in Gaylord Community Schools and found little of lasting impact, so there is nothing to report on that front.
For a family considering this school, the academic picture is mixed but tilting positive in the upper grades. The sixth-grade proficiency rates suggest students are building momentum as they prepare to transition to middle school, while the fourth-grade results indicate room for growth in the earlier intermediate years. The community offers outdoor recreation, trail access, and a distinct small-city identity shaped by its tourism economy and alpine village character.
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