Parker Middle School, Howell MI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Parker Middle School

Parker Middle School sits on Wright Road in Howell, Michigan, part of Howell Public Schools in Livingston County. It is a regular public school serving grades six through eight, with roughly equal enrollment across the three grades. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and very small Asian and Black populations. About three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Information on English learners and special education populations was not available in the data provided.

Howell itself is the county seat of Livingston County, with a historic downtown core of preserved buildings and walkable streets along the Grand River Avenue corridor. The city sits near I-96, giving residents access to the Detroit metro area while retaining a rural-suburban character. Manufacturing is the dominant employment sector, with major employers including Thai Summit America and Citizens Insurance. Community life centers on seasonal events that draw large crowds, such as the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest, the Howell Melon Festival, and the October downtown celebrations. Schools sit on separate campuses away from the downtown civic core. The broader area has seen long-term population growth, though recent estimates point to a slight decline.

The housing market around Parker reflects that suburban positioning. Home values in the school's zip code run above the state benchmark and slightly above the national figure, with a price-to-income ratio that suggests a moderately stretched but not prohibitive market for area families. Rents are in a range where rent-to-income burden sits below the common affordability threshold. Mortgage rates at the time of the data were in the mid-sixes, which shapes what buying looks like for families considering a move into the attendance area.

On state assessments, Parker's middle-grade results paint a mixed picture. In English language arts, sixth and seventh grade proficiency lands in the mid-to-upper thirties, while eighth grade ELA on the PSAT stands out as a clear strength, with a majority of tested students reaching proficiency. That eighth-grade ELA result is the school's strongest academic signal. Math results across the three middle grades are more modest, sitting in the upper twenties to high thirties, with eighth-grade math somewhat ahead of sixth. Eighth-grade science proficiency reaches above half of tested students, and eighth-grade social studies lands just under half. These middle-grade results suggest that older students at Parker tend to perform better, particularly in reading and writing, than the younger middle-grade cohorts.

The data also includes a small number of test results for grades three through five, despite the school's stated grade range of six through eight. Those younger-grade results involve very small tested counts and are not part of the school's reported enrollment. The data does not explain their presence, and the school's enrollment figures confirm only grades six through eight. A parent may want to ask the school what program or arrangement produces those results.

When placed against its peer set, Parker sits in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency among districts in Livingston County. The county's districts range upward from Parker's level to considerably higher proficiency at the top end, with the county median well above Parker's position. This means families choosing Parker should understand that, while the school shows real strengths in upper-grade reading and science, its overall proficiency profile trails most of its county neighbors. Livingston County is generally an affluent, growing area, and several nearby districts post stronger aggregate numbers.

The comparison set did not include graduation rate or chronic absenteeism for Parker, which is expected because Parker is a middle school and does not issue diplomas. Those measures apply to the high school level. Discipline data, staffing figures, course access information, and attendance records were not available in the provided data, so those dimensions of school life cannot be characterized here.

Howell Public Schools has reorganized some programs in ways families may encounter. The district consolidated its alternative high school, Innovation Academy, and its early-learning center, Little Highlander's Learning Center, into a shared building at the former Southwest Elementary site. That structural change affects school options within the district, though it does not directly alter Parker's middle school program.

For a family evaluating Parker, the school offers a solid eighth-grade reading and science trajectory and a peer environment that is large for a middle school and predominantly white with a modest low-income share. The housing market is accessible relative to the region but carries costs above the state norm. The academic picture is one where students tend to improve as they move through the building, particularly in literacy, but where math outcomes remain a softer area and where the school trails most Livingston County peers on overall proficiency. A parent weighing enrollment would benefit from asking the school about its math support structures, what drives the strong eighth-grade ELA results, and how the younger middle-grade cohorts are being supported.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 53% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 46% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 523%

School 23% · District 44% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 31% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 37% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 33% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 42% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 43% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 51% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 39% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 74% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 45% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 854%

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

▲ 17 pts above state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolHowell 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 6Lower-income27%Higher-income40%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income38%Higher-income40%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income68%Higher-income80%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income18%Higher-income34%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income31%Higher-income36%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income23%Higher-income46%24 pp gap