Johannesburglewiston Elementarymiddle School, Johannesburg MI

Original Research by School Decision on Johannesburglewiston Elementarymiddle School

Johannesburg-Lewiston Elementary/Middle School sits in a small unincorporated community along M-32 in northern Michigan's Otsego County, roughly between Gaylord to the west and Atlanta to the east. The area grew out of a lumbering and milling settlement tied to the Johannesburg Manufacturing Company, and today it remains a rural, auto-dependent place with scattered roadside development, a post office, a couple of restaurants, and a war veterans memorial. Big Bear Lake sits nearby, and the community promotes itself as a year-round outdoor recreation destination. There is no traditional walkable downtown grid, and civic life clusters along the highway corridor where the school, the post office, and local gathering spots sit. Most residents likely commute to Gaylord or other towns for work, as current major employers beyond the school district and postal service are not well documented.

The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade and is part of Johannesburg-Lewiston Area Schools, a small rural district that also operates schools in nearby Lewiston, over in Montmorency County. Enrollment is modest for a K through eight building, and the student body is overwhelmingly white, with small representation across several other racial and ethnic categories. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not have charter or magnet status. Data on special education enrollment and English learner populations was not available, so those pictures remain incomplete.

On state assessments, the school's results paint a mixed and uneven profile across grades and subjects. In English language arts, third and fifth graders show comparatively strong proficiency, while fourth graders lag well behind. The standout is eighth grade, where students take the PSAT and post a proficiency rate that is notably high, well above what the middle-grade M-STEP results would predict. Math results are more consistently modest across grades, with fourth and sixth grades sitting lower and the upper grades showing some recovery, particularly eighth grade. Science is a relative strength, with fifth graders reaching a majority proficient and eighth graders not far behind. Social studies follows a similar pattern, with eighth graders performing markedly better than fifth graders.

When placed relative to districts in Otsego County, the school's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint among the two districts with reported data, though below the top of that small group. This is a limited comparison given the county has only three districts and proficiency data was available for two, but it gives a rough sense that the school is not at the bottom of its immediate neighborhood.

Because the school ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available. The school does not serve high school grades, so measures tied to graduation or college readiness do not apply here. Program offerings were not provided, and the district brief returned no recent parent-relevant changes, bond activity, curriculum updates, or property-tax developments. This is a quiet district in a quiet town, and the absence of documented changes may simply reflect that reality rather than a gap in reporting.

Housing in the area is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit below the Michigan statewide figure and well below the national level, and the price-to-income ratio suggests a market that is within reach for working families by broader standards. Rent data was not available, so the rental picture remains unclear. Mortgage rates in the current environment hover in the mid-six range, which affects affordability for buyers financing a purchase.

For a family considering this school, the appeal is likely tied to small grade-level cohorts, a close-knit rural community, and outdoor access near Big Bear Lake and surrounding northern Michigan recreation. The academic picture has genuine bright spots in the upper grades and in science, though the uneven middle-grade results, particularly in math, are something a parent may want to look into further with the school. This is a place where the community and setting define the experience as much as the academics do.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 22% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 22% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 26% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 34%

▲ 7 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 29% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 26% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 39% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Science

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 43% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 30% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 15 pts above state median

This schoolJohannesburg-Lewiston Area 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-income38%Higher-income50%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income40%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income24%Higher-income42%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income17%Higher-income45%28 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income55%Higher-income89%33 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income33%2 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income27%2 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income16%Higher-income33%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income40%18 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income46%20 pp gap