The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in English language arts. The lowest is 18% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Avalon Elementary School
Avalon Elementary School sits on Avalon Street in Saint Clair Shores, serving the early elementary grades as part of South Lake Schools. The school currently enrolls children in kindergarten through second grade, with a prekindergarten slot listed though no children enrolled there in the most recent count. Total enrollment is modest for a building of this grade band. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Black, with a sizable white population and a smaller share of children identified as two or more races. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those dimensions of the school's student support picture are unavailable here.
Because Avalon serves only the early grades, state testing data does not apply to its current grade span. Michigan's M-STEP assessments begin in third grade, and Avalon's current enrollment stops at second. The assessment results on file come from an earlier year when the school appears to have served upper elementary grades. Those results, from the 2018-19 school year, show a mixed picture. English language arts proficiency was moderate, with roughly a third to just under half of tested students reaching proficiency across grades three through five, with the strongest showing in fifth grade. Math proficiency was lower and declined as students moved up the grades, with the weakest results in fifth grade. Science results from an earlier testing cycle were very low, and social studies proficiency in fifth grade was also modest. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint relative to districts in Macomb County. These results predate the current grade configuration, so a parent may want to ask the school how the transition to an earlier-grade model has affected instruction and what current internal assessments show.
No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, or staffing data was available, which is expected given that this is an elementary school serving only the primary grades. Information on specific academic programs, course access, and discipline was not provided. The South Lake Schools district brief did not surface any parent-relevant changes meeting a lasting-impact threshold, so there is little to report on recent district-level shifts.
Saint Clair Shores is an inner-ring suburb of Detroit, primarily residential, with a strong lakefront identity shaped by Lake St. Clair and roughly fourteen miles of canals concentrated near the Nautical Mile corridor along Jefferson Avenue. That corridor, running between Nine and Ten Mile Roads, is the city's most concentrated commercial and pedestrian-facing strip, with restaurants, marinas, boat dealers, and retail. The rest of the community is largely single-family neighborhoods structured by major arterial roads, with Interstate 94 along the western edge providing regional access. The city grew rapidly after World War II from a resort and farming community into a suburban one, and its population has declined gradually since peaking in the early 1970s. Two municipal ice arenas reflect a strong youth hockey tradition, and the city's park system along the waterfront is a defining civic feature. Publicly reported sources note that Saint Clair Shores has three school districts, with South Lake Schools serving the southern portion.
The housing market in the school's zip code is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit below the Michigan average, and rents are moderate. The broader Macomb County market has seen growing inventory in recent months, with active listings rising year over year while demand has softened, suggesting a market tilting toward buyers. Homes are selling at a measured pace, with median days on market increasing somewhat from a year prior. For families considering the area, this means housing costs are generally approachable, and the community offers a distinct suburban waterfront character with practical access to Detroit via the interstate.
Avalon is a small early-elementary school serving a working-community population in an established, modestly priced suburb. The available test results, while dated and from a different grade configuration, suggest academic outcomes that trail the middle of the pack among Macomb County districts. Parents weighing this school would benefit from asking South Lake Schools directly about current instructional approaches for the primary grades, how the building supports children from lower-income households, and what internal growth data the district can share now that state testing no longer applies to this school's grade span.
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