Pattengill School, Lansing MI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Pattengill School

Pattengill School sits on Lansing's near north side, serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Lansing Public School District. It is a regular public school with an enrollment that places it among the larger elementary-middle buildings in the district. The student body reflects the surrounding community: a majority of students identify as Hispanic, Black, or multiracial, with a smaller white population and very small Asian and Indigenous representations. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which speaks to the economic conditions in the surrounding neighborhoods.

On state assessments, Pattengill's results paint a mixed but generally challenged picture. In English language arts, proficiency climbs as students move through the grades, with the strongest showing in eighth grade, where nearly half of tested students reached proficiency on the PSAT-based measure. Fifth-grade ELA also stands out as a relative bright spot. The lower elementary grades show much smaller proportions of students meeting benchmarks. Math is the softer area across the board, with proficiency rates in the single digits to low twenties depending on the grade, and no grade breaking past the mid-twenties. Science and social studies results fall in between, with fifth-grade science and social studies outperforming their eighth-grade counterparts. Taken together, Pattengill's overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile relative to districts across Ingham County. A parent weighing this school may want to look into the specific instructional supports and intervention strategies the building uses, particularly in early-grade math, where the gap between current performance and grade-level expectations is widest.

The school does not have a graduation rate, which is expected for a building that tops out at eighth grade. State testing data was available across grades three through eight. We looked for information on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, course access, discipline, and special populations including English learners and students with IEPs, but these fields were not reported in the available data. Their absence limits the picture of day-to-day school climate and student support.

Lansing itself is Michigan's state capital, a mid-sized city whose economy runs on government, higher education, insurance, and healthcare. Major employers include the State of Michigan, Auto-Owners Insurance, Jackson National Life, Sparrow Health System, and General Motors. Michigan State University sits in adjacent East Lansing, and Lansing Community College operates within the city. The Grand River flows through downtown, and the Lansing River Trail provides a recreational spine for biking and walking. The housing market around Pattengill is affordable by any standard: typical home values in the school's zip code run well below both the state and national benchmarks, and rents are modest relative to income. For families looking to buy, the price-to-income ratio is favorable. The trade-off is that lower home values often track with lower municipal tax bases and the challenges that come with them.

The Lansing Public School District is in a period of tension. Voters approved a bond in November 2022 to fund facility improvements, security upgrades, a new Willow Elementary building, and a new early childhood center, all without raising the current tax rate. That early childhood center broke ground in August 2024 and is expected to open in fall 2025. At the same time, the district is grappling with a structural budget deficit driven by declining enrollment and the expiration of federal COVID-relief funding. Publicly reported discussions about potential school consolidation have begun, though no specific buildings have been named for closure. Families considering Pattengill should be aware that the broader district's financial pressures could shape programming and staffing in the years ahead.

For a family living in or near this part of Lansing, Pattengill offers a walkable-grade-band path from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in a diverse, high-poverty setting where ELA results show real strength in the upper grades but math proficiency remains a concern. The affordability of the surrounding neighborhood is a genuine draw. The question a parent would want to probe is how the school and district plan to address the academic gaps visible in the data while managing the fiscal pressures that are now part of the district's reality.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 21% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 15% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 11% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 8% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 9% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 7% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 311%

School 11% · District 21% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 425%

School 25% · District 19% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 20% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 618%

School 18% · District 14% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 18% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 40% · ▲ 7 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 534%

School 34% · District 17% · ▲ 18 pts above district

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

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 16% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 10% · ▲ 18 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 17%

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

This schoolLansing Public School District, 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.