The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in Math. The lowest is 7% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Jessie Loomis School
Jessie Loomis School sits on Saginaw's east side, serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as part of the Saginaw School District of the City of. It is a regular public school, neither charter nor magnet, and its enrollment is modest for a building spanning that many grade levels. The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller Hispanic presence and a handful of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this school among the highest-poverty campuses in the county. The data did not include special-education or English-learner counts, so those population shares are unknown here.
State testing results from the most recent M-STEP administration tell a difficult story. Across third, fourth, and fifth grades, proficiency rates in both English language arts and math were low, with only fourth-grade math reaching even a moderate level. Third-grade math and ELA each saw roughly one in six tested students reach proficiency. Fifth-grade math was lower still, and fifth-grade science was lower than that. In fifth-grade social studies, no tested student reached proficiency. When this school's overall proficiency is compared against districts in Saginaw County, it lands in the bottom quartile, well below the county median. A parent weighing this school may want to ask administrators what interventions are in place and how the district plans to move these results. The data does not include chronic absenteeism figures, so it is unclear whether attendance is a contributing factor.
Because Jessie Loomis does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That absence simply reflects the grade band, not a gap in the school's performance. Similarly, there is no data on Advanced Placement, dual credit, or career pathways, which would not apply to an elementary building. Information on Title I status, staffing ratios, course access, and discipline was not available in the provided data, so those questions remain open.
The surrounding community shapes what life at this school looks like. Saginaw is a Rust Belt city whose identity was forged in lumber and then automobile manufacturing, with General Motors once dominating the local economy. That industrial base has contracted sharply over decades, and the city's population has been declining. Publicly reported material notes that Saginaw continues to carry a higher proportion of manufacturing jobs than the national average, and current economic development efforts center on clean energy, innovation, and continued manufacturing exports. The city sits along the Saginaw River, a short distance inland from Saginaw Bay and near a National Wildlife Refuge. Downtown Saginaw holds civic and cultural anchors including the Castle Museum, Temple Theatre, and Dow Event Center, giving the city a defined center rather than a dispersed layout. The search results did not surface details about parks, the public library system, or transit.
Housing in the school's zip code is inexpensive by any standard. Typical home values sit far below both the Michigan and national benchmarks, and the price-to-income ratio is close to one, meaning area earnings roughly align with purchase prices. Monthly mortgage costs are low, and rent relative to income appears manageable. For families looking to buy into the neighborhood, affordability is a real characteristic of this market. Whether that offsets the academic concerns is a judgment each family will make on its own.
At the district level, families should be aware of a recent structural change. In fall 2024, the district opened Saginaw United High School, merging the two former high schools into a single building. The old Arthur Hill High facility became the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, and the former Saginaw High building became Saginaw Middle School. This reshapes attendance boundaries and school choice across the district, though the provided data does not specify how those changes affect elementary feeder patterns like Jessie Loomis. A parent would do well to confirm with the district which middle school and high school this building feeds into under the new arrangement.
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