Amberly Elementary School, Portage MI

Original Research by School Decision on Amberly Elementary School

Amberly Elementary School is a regular public school in the Portage Public Schools district, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits on Amberly Street in Portage, a suburban city in Kalamazoo County. The school enrolls a moderate number of students for an elementary building, with fairly even distribution across the grade levels and a sizable kindergarten cohort. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is majority white, with Black, Hispanic, multiracial, and Asian students making up the remainder in smaller proportions. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.

On state assessments, Amberly's results paint a mixed but generally solid picture. In mathematics, third and fourth graders performed well, with a clear majority of students reaching proficiency. Fifth grade math was markedly weaker, with fewer than half of tested students proficient. English language arts followed a different pattern: third grade was modest, fourth grade was stronger, and fifth grade held relatively steady. Fifth grade science landed near the middle, while social studies was the lowest result across all tested subjects and grades. Participation rates were not reported. A parent may want to look into the fifth grade math and social studies results further with the school, particularly whether those reflect a single cohort's experience or a broader pattern.

When measured against other districts in Kalamazoo County, Amberly's overall proficiency sits above the midpoint, closer to the top of the county range than to the median. That positions it as a comparatively strong academic performer within its local context, even with the uneven grade-level results. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady over time.

Because Amberly serves only elementary grades, it has no graduation rate, and the county comparison set correctly excludes that metric for this school. Chronic absenteeism data was also missing. No information on staffing, discipline, course access, or specialized programs was provided, so those dimensions of school life could not be assessed.

Portage itself is a car-dependent suburban city without a traditional walkable downtown. Commercial life runs along South Westnedge Avenue, a major arterial lined with retail, including what is described as the largest retail center in Southwest Michigan. Pfizer operates its largest global manufacturing facility here, which is the city's dominant employer. Residential neighborhoods, lakes, and industrial campuses define the landscape rather than a dense urban grid. The city promotes its parks system and a bikeway and trail network exceeding fifty miles as primary civic amenities. Thirteen public parks, including Romona Park on Long Lake, serve residents. Portage is adjacent to Kalamazoo, where many residents access downtown amenities, Western Michigan University, and healthcare systems.

The housing market in the school's zip code is moderate by national standards, with typical home values below the national benchmark and slightly above the state benchmark. Rents are relatively affordable, with rent-to-income ratios in a manageable range for the area. Home values have been appreciating, and the local market reflects broader conditions of elevated mortgage rates. A family considering the area would find suburban living with practical access to employment, retail, and outdoor recreation, oriented around driving rather than walking.

The district brief for Portage Public Schools did not surface any recently reported parent-relevant changes meeting a lasting-impact threshold. The city recently experienced an EF2 tornado in May of 2024 that damaged numerous buildings and destroyed dozens, including a strip mall and a FedEx distribution center, which may affect parts of the community as rebuilding continues.

For a family weighing Amberly, the school offers above-midcount academic performance in a suburban Portage setting, with particular strength in the earlier elementary grades and some soft spots in upper elementary math and social studies worth asking about.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 361%

School 61% · District 60% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 52% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 41% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 347%

School 47% · District 51% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 54% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 57% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Science

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 55% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 43% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

This schoolPortage Public 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-income12%Higher-income61%49 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income68%34 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income13%Higher-income80%67 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income20%Higher-income78%58 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income79%49 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income10%Higher-income48%37 pp gap