The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 17% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Knudsen Elementary School
Knudsen Elementary School sits on Crescent Road in Waterford, a charter township in Oakland County roughly a half-hour northwest of Detroit. It is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade, part of the Waterford School District. The school draws from a community shaped by its lakes. Waterford's thirty-four named lakes define much of the local geography, with residential subdivisions clustered around them and commercial activity stretched along corridors like Dixie Highway and Highland Road. There is no traditional walkable downtown. Civic life centers on the Waterford Civic Center Complex, which houses township offices, the police station, and the district court, along with the public library nearby.
The township has weathered some economic headwinds. The loss of two major commercial tax sources, a General Motors facility and the Summit Place Mall, reshaped the local economy. Today the largest employers are government and educational institutions, including Oakland County government offices, the intermediate school district headquarters, and Oakland Community College's Highland Lakes campus. The Oakland County International Airport also sits within township boundaries. For families, this means the area leans on public-sector employment and has less private commercial depth than some neighboring Oakland County communities.
At Knudsen, the student body is modest in size for a K through five building. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population making up the next largest group, followed by smaller Black and multiracial populations. The school does not report IEP or English-learner figures in the data available, so those population details are not reflected here.
On state assessments, the most recent M-STEP results paint a mixed picture. English language arts is the relative bright spot, with third-grade proficiency sitting above half the tested students and fifth grade also showing a respectable portion proficient. Fourth grade dips considerably in ELA. Math follows a downward pattern across grades, with third grade the strongest, fourth grade lower, and fifth grade the weakest. Science and social studies, both tested only in fifth grade, show a smaller portion of students reaching proficiency. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint among districts in Oakland County, a set that includes some of the more affluent districts in the region. A parent weighing this school may want to ask how the building supports students who are not yet meeting benchmarks, particularly in math as children move into the upper elementary grades.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent a recent dip or a longer-standing pattern. Chronic absenteeism data was also missing. Because Knudsen is an elementary school, it has no graduation rate and no AP or career-pathway offerings to report. Those gaps reflect the grade band, not an omission by the school.
Housing in the school's zip code is more affordable than the broader Oakland County market. Typical home values sit above the state benchmark but well below national figures, and rents are moderate relative to income. The county-level market has been seeing more active listings and a slight cooling in median listing prices recently, with homes spending a little over a month on the market. For a family considering buying near the school, this suggests a market with growing inventory and some give on price, though mortgage rates remain elevated. Renting remains modestly more affordable than carrying a mortgage at current rates.
The Waterford School District itself is in a period of transition. The board voted in June 2025 to close Kettering High School and consolidate its students into Mott and Durant high schools starting with the 2026-2027 year, a move driven by long-term enrollment decline. Redistricting will follow. While that decision does not directly affect Knudsen's elementary classrooms, it signals a district grappling with shrinking enrollment and tightening finances. On the positive side, voters approved two bond proposals in recent years, one in 2022 and another in 2024, funding roof repairs, safety upgrades, technology improvements, and conversion of classroom spaces into STEM labs without raising the tax rate. Those investments may translate into improved facilities at buildings across the district, including at the elementary level.
Knudsen fits a family looking for a smaller, neighborhood elementary school in a lake-oriented suburban township where housing costs are relatively manageable for Oakland County. The academic results suggest a school with room to grow, particularly in math in the upper grades, and a parent would do well to ask about instructional support and how the district's broader changes might eventually ripple through the feeder pattern.
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