Highlander Way Middle School, Howell MI

Original Research by School Decision on Highlander Way Middle School

Highlander Way Middle School is a regular public school serving grades six through eight in Howell, Michigan, part of Howell Public Schools. It sits in the county seat of Livingston County, a city that blends a historic downtown commercial core with surrounding residential neighborhoods. Howell's position near I-96 gives it access to the Detroit metro area while retaining a rural and suburban character. The downtown features preserved historic buildings and walkable streets, with seasonal events like the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest and the Howell Melon Festival drawing large crowds. Manufacturing is the largest employment sector, with major employers including Thai Summit America Corp, Citizens Insurance, and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Housing in the school's zip code sits above both state and national benchmarks for typical home values, and rents are moderate relative to income. The city grew substantially over recent decades, though current estimates show a slight population decline.

The school's enrollment is moderately sized for a middle school, with students distributed fairly evenly across the three grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and very limited representation from other racial or ethnic groups. Just under a third 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 could not be characterized here.

On state assessments, Highlander Way shows a mixed academic picture. In English language arts, sixth and seventh grade proficiency lands below the midpoint, while eighth grade results stand out as a clear strength, with a strong majority of students reaching proficiency on the PSAT-based measure. Science and social studies proficiency at eighth grade both land near the middle of the range, with roughly half of tested students demonstrating proficiency in each subject.

Mathematics is the softer area. Proficiency rates across all three grades are below the midpoint, with eighth grade results the lowest of the three. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly how math instruction connects across grade levels and what support structures exist for students who are not yet proficient. The school's overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Livingston County. This comparison reflects the county's relatively strong overall performance, and the gap is driven primarily by math results rather than the English, science, or social studies outcomes.

No graduation rate applies here because the school does not serve high school grades. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. Information on course access, staffing ratios, discipline, and attendance was also not provided, so those dimensions of the school environment could not be assessed. Participation rates for state assessments were listed as missing across all tested grades and subjects.

Within Howell Public Schools, recent publicly reported changes include a reorganization that consolidated early-learning and alternative high school programs into a shared facility at the former Southwest Elementary building. This does not directly affect Highlander Way but reflects broader district shifts in how programs are organized.

For a family considering Highlander Way, the school offers solid English language arts outcomes, particularly by eighth grade, and reasonable science and social studies results. The math results are the area most worth probing. The community context is a small city with a distinct downtown identity, reasonable proximity to a major metro, and housing costs that run above state norms but are not extreme. The peer environment is relatively homogeneous, which some families will see as familiar and others will want to weigh against the diversity available in other parts of the region.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 31% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 37% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 33% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 39% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 74% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 51% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 47% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 11 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-income25%Higher-income46%21 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income23%Higher-income45%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income54%Higher-income77%23 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income16%Higher-income38%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income45%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income16%Higher-income30%14 pp gap