The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in Science. The lowest is 7% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Cherry Street Intermediate School
Cherry Street Intermediate School was a regular public school in the village of Kalkaska, part of Kalkaska Public Schools in northern Michigan. The school is now closed, so the information here describes it as it last operated. The grade range is listed in records only as a placeholder, but the state testing data indicates the school served intermediate grades, with assessment results reported for fourth and fifth graders. Families looking at Kalkaska today would be directed to the district's other buildings, but the record below preserves what the school's last reported performance showed.
State assessment results from the final reported year give a window into academic performance at Cherry Street. In English language arts, roughly three out of ten fourth graders and a slightly smaller share of fifth graders reached proficiency. Math results were mixed between the two grades: fourth-grade proficiency was in the same modest range as ELA, while fifth-grade math proficiency was markedly lower, with only a small fraction of tested students clearing the proficiency bar. Fifth-grade science landed near the same level as fourth-grade ELA and math, while social studies was the weakest area, with only a handful of tested fifth graders demonstrating proficiency. Participation rates were not reported, and no multi-year trend data was available, so it is hard to say whether these results represented a decline, a plateau, or a one-year snapshot. A parent reviewing this history may want to ask the district how these patterns informed decisions about the school's closure and how students were redistributed.
Enrollment figures, demographic breakdowns, free- and reduced-price lunch counts, and special population data were not available in the records provided. Without these, it is difficult to characterize the student body's composition or the level of economic need the school served. Civil-rights data, staffing levels, attendance patterns, discipline records, and course-access information were also absent. Program offerings were not listed. The school was not a charter or magnet school.
Kalkaska itself is a small village and the county seat of Kalkaska County. Publicly reported sources describe a community with a mix of residential, commercial, and light industrial character. Manufacturing is the largest employment sector, followed by retail trade and health care and social assistance, with additional activity in tourism, oil and gas, and marijuana industries. The village retains a small-town identity anchored by annual events like the National Trout Festival in spring and the Iceman Cometh bike race in fall, which can swell the local population considerably. A nonmotorized pathway called the KART Trail loops around the governmental, educational, and recreational campuses, giving the civic core a compact, connected layout. The North Branch of the Boardman River flows through the southern part of the village.
Housing in the Kalkaska ZIP code is modestly priced relative to both state and national benchmarks, with a typical home value well below the Michigan median and far below the national figure. The local market has seen a recent decline in values, moving against a statewide trend of modest appreciation. Mortgage rates hover in the mid-six range nationally, and the price-to-income ratio for the area sits below the national level, suggesting that homeownership is relatively attainable for working families compared with much of the state. Rental data was not available. No major new housing developments were identified in publicly reported sources, and the village has grown only modestly over recent decades.
Kalkaska Public Schools did not surface any parent-relevant district changes in the available research, so there is little to report on recent referendums, curriculum shifts, or facility investments. The closure of Cherry Street Intermediate itself is the most concrete change on record, and families in the area would now look to the district's remaining buildings for intermediate-grade instruction.
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