Fancher School, Mount Pleasant MI

Original Research by School Decision on Fancher School

Fancher School is a third-through-fifth-grade building in the Mt. Pleasant City School District, sitting on the south side of Mount Pleasant along Kinney Avenue. It is a traditional public school serving the middle elementary years, the stretch when students consolidate reading fluency and begin tackling more abstract math and science. Families looking at Fancher are really looking at a single intermediate step in a larger district pathway, since children here feed into the district's middle and high schools.

On state M-STEP assessments from the most recent year, Fancher's results land below the midpoint for Isabella County districts. Math proficiency hovers around the mid-thirties across all three grades, with a slight dip in fifth grade. English language arts starts lower in third grade, climbs through fourth, and reaches its highest point in fifth, where roughly four in ten students met proficiency. Fifth-grade science sits in the same mid-thirties range as math. Social studies is the weakest area, with roughly one in five fifth-graders reaching proficiency. Across tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Isabella County. A parent weighing this school may want to look into how the building supports students who are not yet at grade level, particularly in early reading and in fifth-grade social studies.

The school enrolls a moderate number of students for a three-grade building. Its student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population, a group identifying as two or more races, and a small number of American Indian or Alaska Native students, reflecting in part the presence of the Isabella Indian Reservation, home of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Nation, which overlaps with the city. Just under half of Fancher students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported in the available sources, so those populations cannot be characterized here.

The surrounding community shapes what life at Fancher looks like outside the school day. Mount Pleasant is a college town and county seat, home to Central Michigan University, whose student population nearly doubles the city during the academic year. The city has a distinct downtown historic district along the Chippewa River, and Mission Street serves as the main commercial corridor. Publicly reported sources describe the city as retaining a hometown feel while offering big-city conveniences. Major employers include the university, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Nation's Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in nearby Chippewa Township, county government offices, and the public schools. The city's population has declined slightly in recent years, and its poverty rate is elevated, likely influenced by the large student population.

Housing in the school's zip code is relatively affordable compared with state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the state median and roughly two-thirds of the national figure, and rents are modest. Estimated monthly mortgage costs run higher than typical rents, which may factor into families' decisions about buying versus renting in the area.

The district brief turned up little of lasting impact regarding recent changes or strategic initiatives, so that context is left out rather than guessed. Similarly, no multi-year trend data was available for Fancher's test results, so it is unclear whether proficiency has been moving in any direction. Participation rates for state assessments were also missing from the data.

What Fancher offers is a mid-sized intermediate elementary in a compact, culturally layered college town, with housing costs that keep the area accessible. Its academic results as measured by state tests are on the lower end within Isabella County, with reading improving as students move toward fifth grade but math and social studies remaining areas where a family might want to ask direct questions of the school before enrolling.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 34% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 32% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 28% · ▲ 4 pts above district

even with state median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 28% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 29% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 38% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 32% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 19% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

This schoolMt. Pleasant City 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income15%Higher-income43%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income18%Higher-income46%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income15%Higher-income60%45 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income56%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income22%Higher-income47%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income59%42 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income46%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income52%26 pp gap