The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Science. The lowest is 42% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Kent Lake Elementary School
Kent Lake Elementary School sits in the South Lyon Community Schools district, a public system that sprawls across 83 square miles and three counties in southwestern Oakland County. The school itself serves kindergarten through fifth grade on Kent Lake Road, just outside the walkable downtown core of South Lyon. That downtown, clustered around the intersection of Lake and Lafayette Streets along Pontiac Trail, holds a dozen blocks of shops, restaurants, and services in a historic setting. A paved bicycle trail follows a former Grand Trunk rail line through town, and McHattie Park hosts summer concerts and the annual Depot Days festival each autumn. The city markets itself on small-town character with easy access to I-96 and US-23, roughly 45 miles from Detroit and under an hour from Lansing. South Lyon has also been positioning itself as a manufacturing center, with light industrial acreage and municipal utility systems that surrounding areas lack.
The school draws a predominantly white student body, with smaller Asian and Hispanic populations and a modest share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The district reports no IEP or English-learner figures for this school, so those populations cannot be characterized here. Enrollment is moderate for a K-5 building, with fairly even distribution across the six grade levels.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessments, Kent Lake shows solid and generally improving results as students move up through the grades. Math proficiency holds above the mid-fifties percentile range in third and fourth grade and rises in fifth. English language arts follows a steeper upward arc, starting lower in third grade, strengthening in fourth, and reaching a clear majority of fifth graders scoring proficient or above. Fifth-grade science results land in a similar range, with a majority proficient. Social studies is the soft spot, with fewer than half of fifth graders reaching proficiency. Participation rates were not reported, and no multi-year trend data was available, so families looking to understand whether these results reflect steady performance or recent change would need to ask the school directly.
Measured against districts in Oakland County, Kent Lake's overall proficiency sits above the midpoint. The county's districts span a wide range of outcomes, and this school lands comfortably in the upper portion of that spread. That positions it as a reasonably strong academic performer within a county known for competitive public schools.
Because Kent Lake serves only elementary grades, it has no graduation rate, and the data set carried no chronic absenteeism figures, discipline reports, course-access details, or staffing information. Program offerings were not provided. Families wanting a fuller picture of extracurriculars, specialist instruction, or support services would need to go to the school or district for that detail. We looked for recent district-level changes such as referendums, curriculum shifts, or property-tax moves, and the search surfaced nothing of lasting parent-relevant impact, so we left that out rather than guess.
The housing market around the school reflects the broader Oakland County profile. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well above both the state and national benchmarks, and rents are moderately priced relative to local incomes. The county market has seen listing inventory grow year over year, with median listing prices easing slightly and homes taking a few weeks longer to sell than they did a year prior. That suggests a market that is still active but a touch softer than the previous cycle, which may give incoming families a bit more room to maneuver than a year ago. The estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home remains meaningfully higher than typical rent, so the buy-versus-rent calculus depends heavily on how long a family plans to stay.
Kent Lake fits families seeking a suburban elementary experience in a district with broad geographic reach and solid academic footing. The school's test results are a clear strength, its community is relatively affluent, and the surrounding town offers a genuine downtown with seasonal events and trail access. The main gaps a parent might want to probe are social studies instruction, the availability of specialized programs or support services, and whether the upward trajectory in ELA and math holds as cohorts move through the upper elementary grades.
See more original research from School Decision →