Clarke School, Saint Joseph MI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Clarke School

Clarke School is a regular public elementary school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Saint Joseph, Michigan, part of St. Joseph Public Schools. It sits on Glenlord Road in a residential setting, away from the downtown core but within a city that blends lakefront tourism, county government, and corporate industry. The school serves a moderate enrollment for an elementary building, with fairly even distribution across its six grade levels.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller Asian, Hispanic, multiracial, and Black populations rounding out the composition. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is relatively low, which aligns with the broader economic character of Saint Joseph. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available in the provided materials, so a parent looking for detail on those support services would want to ask the school directly.

On state assessments, Clarke's results are a clear strength. Across the tested grades in math, proficiency rates sit well above the midpoint for Berrien County districts, and the school lands in the top quartile on the overall proficiency index among county districts. English language arts results show a similar pattern, with fourth grade posting particularly strong proficiency and third and fifth grade landing at more modest but still solid levels. Fifth-grade science results were also strong, while social studies was the softest area, with fewer than half of tested students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, though it is worth noting that a cut-score change flag appears on the social studies assessment, which can complicate year-over-year comparisons. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is hard to say whether these results represent steady performance or recent improvement.

Because Clarke is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism data and civil-rights data were not available in the provided materials. Information on staffing ratios, course access, discipline, and specific program offerings was also absent, so families seeking detail on specialist teachers, intervention programs, or enrichment offerings should contact the district directly. We looked for parent-relevant district changes in St. Joseph Public Schools but found little of recent note, so we left it out rather than guess.

Saint Joseph itself is a compact lakefront city at the mouth of the St. Joseph River on Lake Michigan. It serves as the Berrien County seat, with a walkable downtown grid along State Street anchored by Lake Bluff Park, Silver Beach, the Krasl Art Center, and civic buildings. Whirlpool Corporation's global headquarters in adjacent Benton Harbor shapes the regional economy, and the broader mix includes health care, county government, tourism, and manufacturing. The city is nearly built-out, with steady population decline over recent decades and limited room for large-scale new housing. Publicly reported sources describe revitalization efforts focused on the lakefront and downtown rather than expansion.

The housing market in Clarke's zip code sits above the state benchmark but below the national one, with home values and rents that have seen modest year-over-year appreciation. The price-to-income ratio is near the national average, and estimated monthly ownership costs run somewhat higher than typical rents, which gives renting families a relative affordability advantage. Mortgage rates in the current environment remain elevated by recent historical standards.

For a family considering Clarke, the picture is of a well-performing elementary school in an established, amenity-rich lakeside community with a stable but aging population and a housing market that is manageable compared with national levels but tilted toward those who already own. The academic results are the strongest part of the profile, and the gaps in program, staffing, and student-support data are the main thing a parent would want to fill in through direct conversation with the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 62% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 59% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 50% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 59% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 69% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 59% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 60% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 47%

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

This schoolSt. Joseph 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 3Lower-income20%Higher-income64%44 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income78%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income60%40 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income15%Higher-income75%60 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income70%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income27%Higher-income66%39 pp gap