Riley Elementary School, Saint Johns MI

Original Research by School Decision on Riley Elementary School

Riley Elementary School sits in St. Johns, the county seat of Clinton County, a small city about eighteen miles north of Lansing. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of St. Johns Public Schools. St. Johns has a traditional grid-pattern downtown anchored by the Clinton County Courthouse, surrounded by mostly owner-occupied single-family homes. The city retains a strong agricultural identity, publicly reported as the self-styled Mint Capital of the World, with an annual festival celebrating that heritage. Population growth has been very slow, and the housing market is modest relative to state and national benchmarks. For a family weighing this area, the cost of ownership sits below the state typical, and the community has a quiet, small-city character rather than suburban sprawl.

Riley's enrollment is modest for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and very few students from other racial or ethnic groups. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, lower than what many Michigan elementaries see. The school lists pre-kindergarten in its served grades, though the current enrollment data shows no pre-kindergarten students enrolled. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available.

On state assessments, the most recent M-STEP results paint a mixed picture that follows a clear pattern. Third grade stands out as a strength. Math proficiency in third grade is high, and ELA proficiency in third grade is also strong. These are results a parent can feel good about. The picture shifts in fourth and fifth grade. Fourth-grade math proficiency drops to about half, and fifth-grade math is similar. ELA declines more sharply in fourth grade, with fewer than two in five students meeting proficiency, before recovering somewhat in fifth grade. Fifth-grade science sits at about the midpoint, while fifth-grade social studies is the weakest result, with only about a third of students proficient. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly the fourth-grade ELA dip and the social studies outcome.

When positioned relative to districts in Clinton County, Riley's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades falls below the midpoint. The county cohort is small, and Riley sits closer to the lower end than the upper. This does not mean the school is struggling across the board, but the upper-grade results pull the composite down. The third-grade numbers suggest the early grades are doing something right, and the question is what happens as cohorts move through fourth and fifth.

Because Riley is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data was not available. Information on discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance was not provided, so those dimensions of school climate cannot be characterized here. Title I status was also not reported.

The district brief for St. Johns Public Schools turned up no parent-relevant changes of lasting impact from recent years. No bond referendums, property-tax shifts, or district-wide curriculum changes surfaced in the available research. That suggests a period of relative stability in district operations, though the absence of found changes does not rule out developments that simply did not appear in search results.

For a family considering Riley, the school offers a community setting in an affordable small city with a walkable downtown and stable population. The early-grade academic results are a genuine strength. The weaker upper-grade proficiency, especially in ELA and social studies, is something to ask about. The lack of available data on special populations, discipline, and staffing means a parent would need to go directly to the school for those details. What the data does show is an elementary school with a solid foundation in the earliest tested grades and work to do as students progress toward middle school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 379%

School 79% · District 62% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 55% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 45% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 58% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 50% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 55% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Science

Grade 555%

School 55% · District 56% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 40% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

This schoolSt. Johns Public 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 4Lower-income24%Higher-income43%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income57%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income29%Higher-income59%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income19%Higher-income63%44 pp gap