The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Science. The lowest is 49% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Commerce Elementary School
Commerce Elementary School sits on Farr Street in Commerce Township, a largely residential charter township in Oakland County about a half-hour's drive northwest of Detroit. The township grew from a lakeside resort community into a permanent suburban home base, defined by its many lakes, the Huron River, and a patchwork of single-family subdivisions threaded along arterial roads. There is no traditional walkable downtown here. Civic and commercial life disperses along corridors like Haggerty Road, and residents rely on cars for nearly every errand and commute. Proud Lake State Recreation Area and the Huron River give the area a rural-feeling recreational backbone that many families find appealing. The township is served by two districts, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools and Huron Valley Schools, and Commerce Elementary belongs to the former.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and operates as a regular public school. Its enrollment is moderate for an elementary building, with fairly even distribution across the grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of students identifying as Hispanic, two or more races, Asian, or Black. A modest portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is lower than what many Michigan elementary schools see and reflects the township's generally comfortable economic profile. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so those pieces of the support picture are absent here.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessments, Commerce Elementary posts results that stand out as strong relative to districts across Oakland County. The school's overall proficiency, averaged across tested subjects and grades, places it in the top quartile among county districts. In mathematics, third graders showed the highest proficiency, with a clear majority meeting or exceeding standards. Fifth graders were close behind in math, while fourth graders landed at a lower but still solid level. English language arts results followed a similar pattern: third and fifth graders demonstrated proficiency at a healthy rate, while fourth grade was the weaker cohort, dipping below the school's other grades. Fifth-grade science results were a bright spot, with a substantial majority proficient. Social studies was the softest area, with fewer than half of fifth graders reaching proficiency. A parent may want to look into the fourth-grade dip and the social studies result further with the school, though these are common patterns in Michigan elementary data and do not by themselves indicate a systemic problem.
Participation rates were not available in the data, and because the school does not extend into high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism figures were also missing.
The housing market around the school reflects Commerce Township's suburban character. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit above both the state and national benchmarks, consistent with Oakland County's more affluent corridors. The county-level market has seen a recent increase in active listings and new inventory compared to the prior year, while median listing prices have softened slightly. Homes still move at a brisk pace relative to many markets, with a median time on market of roughly a month. Rental data was not available for this specific zip code. The broader affordability picture, using national income benchmarks, suggests that owning a home here requires a relatively strong household income, which aligns with the township's owner-occupied, single-family composition.
Commerce Township continues to grow steadily, transitioning further from its resort-cabin origins into permanent suburban residential development. The township's lakes and high property values constrain large-scale construction, and the incomplete M-5 highway terminus within the township reflects the difficulty of building roads around water and expensive real estate. Public transit is minimal. For families considering Commerce Elementary, the setting offers a quieter, lake-oriented suburban lifestyle with strong academic outcomes at the elementary level, a relatively homogeneous peer environment, and a housing market that leans toward ownership rather than renting. The district, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, operates multiple schools within the township, and families will want to engage directly with the school for details on programming, staffing, and student support that this data does not capture.
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