The top reported proficiency rate is 21% in Math. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cleveland Elementary
Cleveland Elementary is a regular public school in the Port Huron Area School District, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade on Vanness Street in Port Huron, the county seat of St. Clair County. It is a small school for its grade band, with one classroom section per grade and a fairly even distribution of children from kindergarten through fifth. The building sits in a city shaped by its location at the base of Lake Huron, where the St. Clair River begins and the Blue Water Bridge connects to Sarnia, Ontario. Port Huron is a car-oriented place, the eastern terminus of both I-69 and I-94, with a downtown running along Huron Avenue near the waterfront. The Black River divides the city and empties into the St. Clair River near downtown. Publicly reported sources describe a community with an extensive waterfront park system, a municipal marina operation, and seasonal tourism tied to sailboat races and summer festivals. The city's historical growth came from shipbuilding and lumber in the mid-nineteenth century, and the broader area has been rebranded as Michigan's Thumb Coast for tourism. The housing market here is affordable compared with state and national benchmarks, with home values well below what most Michigan and U.S. communities show, and rents that are modest relative to local incomes.
The student body at Cleveland reflects a community with pronounced economic need. A very large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The school's enrollment is predominantly white, with a substantial Black population and notable shares of multiracial and Hispanic students. Data on English learners and special education populations was not available, so those figures cannot be characterized here. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the support services it provides for students learning English or receiving special education services.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessment, Cleveland Elementary's proficiency rates are low across every tested subject and grade. In math, fewer than a third of students reached proficiency in any grade, with third and fifth grade results lower than fourth. English language arts followed a similar pattern, with fourth grade the relative high point and third and fifth grade below it. Fifth grade science proficiency was very low, and fifth grade social studies showed no students reaching proficiency. The comparison fact-set places Cleveland's overall proficiency index in the bottom quartile relative to districts in St. Clair County, meaning its combined results sit below nearly every other district in the county for which data was available. These are recent results, and a parent weighing this school may want to look into what academic interventions and support structures the building has in place, and how leadership plans to address these outcomes.
Because Cleveland serves only elementary grades, it has no graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism data was not reported for this school. Participation rates for the state assessments were also missing in the available data.
The broader district context offers something to watch. In November 2024, voters in the Port Huron Area School District approved a bond proposal by a wide margin, publicly reported as funding safety and security improvements, instructional technology, facility renovations including roofs and HVAC, career and technical education space at both high schools, athletic facility upgrades, and a multi-purpose addition at Thomas Edison Elementary. The district described the levy as carrying no net millage rate increase to taxpayers. That investment touches all sixteen school buildings in the district, though the specific improvements planned for Cleveland Elementary were not detailed in the available materials.
Cleveland Elementary is a small, community-rooted school serving a student population with substantial economic need in an affordable waterfront city. Its academic results are currently among the weakest in its county peer set. For a family evaluating this school, the most productive step may be a direct conversation with building leadership about what is being done to strengthen instruction and student support, and how the district's newly approved facilities investment will reach this campus.
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