The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in Science. The lowest is 8% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Mason County Central Upper Elementary
Mason County Central Upper Elementary sits in Scottville, a small rural city in central Mason County that grew up as a stop on the Pere Marquette Railway and has stayed rooted in agriculture. The town centers on a compact Main Street corridor with city hall and several historic buildings. It sits a short drive east of Ludington and Lake Michigan, with Riverside Park along the Pere Marquette River serving as a major recreational anchor offering camping, fishing, and trails. Publicly reported sources note that Scottville was selected for the Cool Cities Michigan Main Street program, receiving intensive technical assistance aimed at new development and economic growth. Median home values in the area have risen substantially over the past decade and a half, and the current typical home value sits well below both the state and national benchmarks, with a price-to-income ratio that suggests relative affordability for the region.
The school serves grades three through five as a regular public school in the Mason County Central Schools district. Enrollment is modest for its grade band, and the student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and very few students from other racial backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and special education populations was not reported, so those figures are absent here. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and that is expected for this grade range.
State assessment results come from the M-STEP, and the picture across subjects is one of generally low proficiency. In math, the share of students meeting proficiency is highest in third grade and declines as students move through fourth and fifth grade, ending at a low level by fifth. English language arts moves in the opposite direction, with proficiency edging upward from third to fifth grade, though it remains low throughout. Fifth-grade science proficiency is low, and fifth-grade social studies proficiency is lower still. When the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades is placed relative to districts in Mason County, it falls in the bottom quartile. This is a soft spot a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly the downward trajectory in math from third to fifth grade and the very low social studies result.
Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent a change from prior years or a persistent pattern. Participation rates were also missing from the reported data. Information on staffing, course access, discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism was not provided, nor was a Title I status. The district brief yielded little in the way of recent parent-relevant changes, so that material is left out rather than guessed at.
What a family gets here is a small, community-rooted elementary school in an affordable rural town with strong outdoor recreation nearby and a district campus that sits apart from the downtown core. The academic results, though, are a central concern. Proficiency rates are low across subjects and grades, and the school ranks near the bottom among its Mason County peers on the proficiency index. A family considering this school would want to ask direct questions about how the building supports students who are below grade level, what interventions are in place especially in math, and what the district's improvement priorities are.
See more original research from School Decision →