The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in Math. The lowest is 13% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Wacousta Elementary School
Wacousta Elementary School sits on West Herbison Road in Eagle, a very small rural village in Clinton County about a short drive northwest of Lansing. The village itself is tiny and primarily residential, with high homeownership and a civic life centered on Eagle Township Hall, Eagle Park, and the Looking Glass River. There is no commercial downtown to speak of. The surrounding township has explicitly prioritized preserving its rural character, and growth has been slow. For families, this is a quiet, spread-out setting where commutes to Lansing or Grand Ledge are part of daily life and the school functions as a local anchor.
Wacousta is part of Grand Ledge Public Schools and serves kindergarten through fourth grade. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary building of this grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic presence and smaller proportions of students identifying as two or more races, Black, or Asian. Just under a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so a parent looking for information on special education or language support services would want to ask the school directly.
A new Wacousta Elementary building opened in fall 2024, replacing the original structure as part of a district bond that also funded athletic and performing arts improvements at Grand Ledge High School. This is a fresh facility for families to consider. The district also reconfigured its grade levels beginning in 2021-22, shifting elementary schools to a K-4 model, moving fifth and sixth graders to Hayes Intermediate, and relocating kindergarten from a centralized building into the elementary schools. So the current K-4 structure is a relatively recent arrangement.
On state assessments, the most recent results come from the 2024-25 M-STEP. In third grade math, roughly two-fifths of students reached proficiency, and fourth grade math was similar. English language arts proficiency was a bit lower in both grades, with fourth grade ELA the weakest of the four current results. Science and social studies scores also appear in the data, but those come from the 2020-21 school year and were measured at the fifth grade level, a grade Wacousta no longer serves. Those older results should not be read as a current indicator for this school as it is now configured.
Measured against other districts in Clinton County, Wacousta's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades lands in the bottom quartile. This is a factual observation, not a verdict, and families may want to look into this further with the school, asking about instructional focus, intervention supports, and how the new building and reconfigured grade bands are being leveraged to strengthen outcomes.
No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism figure, or course access data applies here, which is typical for a K-4 elementary school. Staffing and discipline information was also not available in the provided data.
The housing market around Eagle reflects a rural community within commuting distance of a capital city. Home values in the school's zip code sit above the state benchmark but below the national one, and the price-to-income ratio suggests a market that is moderately stretched but not among the most expensive in the region. Rent data was not available. The area's slow growth and limited housing stock mean families considering a move here are looking at a tight, residential market with little new construction pressure.
Wacousta offers families a small rural elementary experience within a district that has invested in new facilities and a restructured grade configuration. The academic results, as currently measured, are below where many neighboring Clinton County districts sit, and a parent would be well served to ask the school how it is addressing that gap while weighing the benefits of a brand-new building and a close-knit community setting.
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