The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Stone School
Stone School sits on State Street in Saginaw, a city whose identity was forged in lumber and then in automobile manufacturing under General Motors. The school is part of the Saginaw School District of the City of, which recently underwent a major restructuring. In fall 2024, publicly reported accounts indicate the district opened Saginaw United High School, merging Arthur Hill High School and Saginaw High School into a single facility. The former Arthur Hill building became the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy, and the former Saginaw High School building became Saginaw Middle School. That reshaping of attendance boundaries and grade configurations is the backdrop families now navigate across the district.
Stone serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and enrolls a mid-sized population for its grade band. The student body is predominantly Black, with Hispanic and White students each making up a smaller but visible share, and a small group identifying as two or more races. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school firmly in a high-poverty context. The data does not include counts for students with individualized education programs or English learners, so those population sizes are not clear from what was available.
Academic results from the most recent M-STEP administration are low across every tested grade and subject. In math, third graders showed a very small share reaching proficiency, while fourth and fifth grade proficiency fell into the lowest reporting band, with no students clearing the proficiency bar in those grades. English language arts followed a similar pattern, with third and fourth grade results in the lowest band or just above it, and fifth grade showing a somewhat higher but still modest share of proficient students. Science and social studies, both tested in fifth grade, were also low. When measured against other districts in Saginaw County, Stone's overall proficiency sits in the bottom quartile. These are plainly weak results, stated as fact. A parent may want to look into how the school is responding to these outcomes and what supports are being put in place.
Because Stone does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was not available, and information on staffing ratios, discipline, course access, and program offerings was not provided, so those pieces of the picture are missing rather than inferred.
Saginaw itself is a Rust Belt city working through decades of industrial decline. Manufacturing jobs remain a larger share of the local economy than the national average, and current development efforts center on clean energy, innovation, and continued manufacturing exports. The downtown corridor along the Saginaw River holds civic and cultural venues including the Castle Museum, Temple Theatre, and Dow Event Center. The broader region sits in the Saginaw Bay watershed, near one of the largest contiguous freshwater coastal wetlands in the country and a National Wildlife Refuge. Population has been trending downward, consistent with the broader deindustrialization pattern across the region.
The housing market around Stone School is very affordable by any standard. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below both the Michigan and national benchmarks, and rents are similarly modest. For families for whom housing cost is a driving concern, this is one of the more accessible markets you will find. The tradeoff, as the academic data makes plain, is that the local school is struggling to move students to proficiency, and the community is grappling with the economic legacy that shapes much of daily life here. Families considering Stone should weigh that affordability against the academic picture and ask directly what the school and district are doing to improve outcomes.
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