Maplewood School, Vermontville MI

Original Research by School Decision on Maplewood School

Maplewood School sits in the village of Vermontville, a small rural community in Eaton County with roots in agriculture and a quiet, traditional texture. The village centers on a Public Square along Main Street, with the library in the historic Opera House, a community center, and village office all within a short walk. The Thornapple River and the Paul Henry-Thornapple Rail Trail give the area outdoor recreation within reach. Vermontville has seen a modest population decline in recent years, and the village has turned its attention to infrastructure and planning, including a wastewater system improvement project and the adoption of a Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Housing here is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks, with a price-to-income ratio that sits below what many families would face in larger Michigan markets.

The school serves grades three through six and is part of Maple Valley Schools. Enrollment is modest and spread fairly evenly across the four grade levels. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with small Hispanic and multiracial populations and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on English learners and special education populations was not available, so those counts cannot be characterized here.

On Michigan's M-STEP assessments for the most recent school year, proficiency results tell a mixed picture across grades and subjects. In math, third and fourth graders landed near the high twenties in proficiency, fifth grade dropped lower, and sixth grade came in as the strongest math result. English language arts followed a similar arc, with third and fourth grade results below the fifth and sixth grade outcomes. Fifth grade science landed in the mid-twenties, while fifth grade social studies was the weakest reported result across all subjects and grades. There is a pattern here: older students at this school tend to perform better than younger ones, and social studies is the clearest soft spot. A parent may want to look into how the school supports early-grade math and literacy, and what explains the dip in fifth grade math specifically, with the school directly.

Measured against districts in Eaton County, Maplewood's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint. The county's districts range widely, and this school falls in the lower portion of that spread. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results are improving, declining, or holding steady. Participation rates were also missing from the data, though the tested counts were reported for each grade and subject.

Several categories that parents often ask about were not available in the data provided. There is no information on program offerings, advanced or enrichment coursework, or extracurriculars. Staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, discipline data, and course access were all absent. Title I status was not reported. Because Maplewood does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate, and that gap simply reflects the grade band served rather than a missing result.

The district brief for Maple Valley Schools did not surface any parent-relevant changes meeting a lasting-impact bar. General district information exists, but nothing specific enough to characterize here. Families considering this school would benefit from asking the district directly about recent initiatives, support services, and any programs the data does not capture.

What the available evidence describes is a small, rural upper-elementary school in an affordable community with a close-knit civic core. Academic results are uneven, stronger in the upper grades than the lower ones, and below the county midpoint overall. For a family drawn to small-town life and a school where children can attend grades three through six in one building, the fit may depend on how the school addresses its early-grade proficiency challenges and what supports lie beyond what the data shows.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

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

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 10 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 33%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 26%

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

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Science

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

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

Social studies

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 14%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

This schoolMaple Valley 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-income27%Higher-income25%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income24%Higher-income24%0 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income26%Higher-income39%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income28%Higher-income38%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income19%Higher-income38%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income38%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income16%Higher-income13%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income19%20 pp gap