Jefferson Elementary School, Wyandotte MI

Original Research by School Decision on Jefferson Elementary School

Jefferson Elementary School is a regular public school in Wyandotte, Michigan, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Wyandotte School District of the City of. It sits on 15th Street in a city laid out on a grid of numbered streets and tree-named cross-streets, part of the Downriver cluster of communities south of Detroit. Wyandotte has a traditional downtown commercial corridor along Biddle Avenue, a riverfront setting on the Detroit River, and an older housing stock dating to the nineteenth century. The city was once built around iron works, chemical production, and shipyards, and BASF still operates a chemical complex on the north riverfront. The city also owns its own municipal utilities through Wyandotte Municipal Services. Publicly reported research describes a largely built-out community with a stable population and an aging demographic profile, where only a portion of households have children under eighteen.

The school's enrollment is mid-sized for an elementary building. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population forming the next largest group, followed by smaller Black, multiracial, and other populations. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those dimensions of the peer environment cannot be described here. No information on specialized programs, course access, staffing ratios, or attendance was provided either, which limits the picture of what the school offers beyond the standard elementary curriculum.

Academically, Jefferson's state assessment results from the most recent year show real variation across grades and subjects. In English language arts, fourth graders posted the strongest results, with nearly half of tested students reaching proficiency, while third and fifth grades landed in a lower but still moderate range. Math performance followed a similar pattern in third and fourth grade, with fourth grade again the standout. Fifth grade math, however, dropped sharply, with only a small fraction of students demonstrating proficiency. Science and social studies, both tested only in fifth grade, also came in low. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint relative to districts in Wayne County, meaning Jefferson outperforms a majority of its county peers on this aggregate measure. Still, the fifth grade results in math, science, and social studies are a clear soft spot, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly whether the dip reflects a cohort issue or a broader instructional challenge at that grade level. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent a change from prior years.

Because Jefferson is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. Chronic absenteeism and other civil-rights data were also not available.

The housing market around Jefferson is relatively affordable. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below both the Michigan and national benchmarks, and rents are modest as well. Wayne County's broader market shows a healthy supply of active listings and a median listing price that has edged downward recently. The county's demand has softened compared to a year ago, while supply remains ample, which generally favors buyers. For families considering a move into the attendance area, the cost barrier is lower than in many parts of the state, and the older, compact grid layout of Wyandotte supports walkability in the core neighborhoods near downtown.

No district-level changes such as referendums, curriculum shifts, or tax adjustments surfaced in the available research, so there is nothing to report on that front. Jefferson presents as an older, established elementary school in a working-class riverfront suburb, with middling-to-above-average academic results relative to its county, a few sharp weak spots in the upper grades, and a community where housing costs are within reach for many families.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 41% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 34% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 25% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 41% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 38% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Science

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 19% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolWyandotte School District of the City of, 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-income31%Higher-income43%12 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income52%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income34%Higher-income50%16 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income45%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income42%Higher-income48%6 pp gap