Elmwood Elementary School, Saint Clair Shores MI

Original Research by School Decision on Elmwood Elementary School

Elmwood Elementary School sits in the southern part of Saint Clair Shores, an inner-ring Detroit suburb with a strong waterfront identity. The city grew from a resort and farming community into a residential suburb after World War II, and its character still leans recreational. The Nautical Mile, a concentrated strip of restaurants, marinas, and boat dealers along Jefferson Avenue, gives the area its most recognizable commercial corridor. Away from the lakefront, the city is mostly single-family neighborhoods structured by major arterial roads and Interstate 94 along the western edge. Saint Clair Shores has no traditional downtown; civic and commercial life is distributed, and schools sit within neighborhoods rather than clustered around a central core.

Elmwood is part of South Lake Schools, one of three public districts operating in Saint Clair Shores. It serves third through fifth grades, which means its students take Michigan's M-STEP assessments in every grade they attend. The school does not have a graduation rate or chronic absenteeism figure in the data provided, which is expected for an upper-elementary building. No charter or magnet designation applies.

Academically, the most recent M-STEP results paint a mixed picture. English language arts is the relative bright spot, with fifth-grade proficiency reaching a level that sits above the school's own math results and above its younger-grade ELA outcomes. Third-grade ELA is also the strongest early-grade result. Math proficiency, though, is lower across all three grades, dipping from third grade into fourth and holding roughly flat in fifth. Fifth-grade science landed in a middling range, while social studies was the weakest subject area by a wide margin. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's combined proficiency index sits below the midpoint among districts in Macomb County, the comparison set used here. A parent evaluating Elmwood may want to ask the school how it is approaching math instruction and social studies in particular, since those are the areas where proficiency lags most.

The student body is small for a three-grade building, and its composition reflects the surrounding community. A majority of students identify as Black, with a substantial white enrollment and a smaller multiracial group. A clear majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which positions the school as serving a working- and middle-income population. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those population sizes are unknown.

Housing in the surrounding zip code is modestly priced relative to both Michigan and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the state figure and rents that look affordable against current mortgage costs. The Macomb County market has seen inventory grow year over year, with homes spending roughly a month on the market before going under contract. Demand has softened slightly, and listing prices have edged down. For families looking to buy near Elmwood, the market appears accessible, with enough supply to allow comparison shopping.

The locale brief did not surface parent-relevant district changes for South Lake Schools, and the district brief turned up nothing on recent strategic shifts or facility decisions. That means there is no published record of recent program launches, boundary changes, or building investments to factor in. What is clear is the setting: a maturing suburb with a waterside identity, distributed civic life, and a housing market that remains within reach for many families. Elmwood's academic results are uneven, with real strength in upper-grade reading and clear soft spots in math and social studies that warrant a closer conversation with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 2 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 1 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 37%

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grade 515%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

This schoolSouth Lake 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-income29%Higher-income47%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income15%Higher-income46%31 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income52%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income47%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income19%Higher-income31%13 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income28%8 pp gap