Summary:
AkronFairgrove JrSr High School is the only school serving Fairgrove, Michigan, a small community where this single campus educates students in grades 6 through 12 with a total enrollment of 181 students under the Akron-Fairgrove Schools district.
This combined junior/senior high school shows a mixed academic profile. The most positive news is that 6th graders outperform the state in English Language Arts (41.7% proficient vs. 37.5% statewide) and showed strong year-over-year gains in both ELA (+9.4 points) and math (+9.8 points). The school also maintains a graduation rate of 88.2%, which exceeds the state average of 84.0%, and its dropout rate of 5.8% is below the state’s 7.1%. However, significant challenges emerge in upper grades. Science and social studies proficiency rates are alarmingly low—just 14-15% at both 8th and 11th grades compared to state averages of 35-50%—with 11th grade science dropping 20.5 points and social studies dropping 19.9 points in a single year. Math proficiency also lags across all grades, with 8th and 9th grade PSAT math scores (19% and 17.6%) at roughly half the state levels.
Perhaps most concerning is the school’s three-year ranking decline, falling from the 68th percentile (237th of 735 schools) in 2022-2023 to the 32nd percentile (544th of 800) by 2025-2026. Chronic absenteeism stands at 32.2%, notably higher than the state’s 27.9%, and nearly 69% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. With only about 26 students per grade, small cohort sizes can cause dramatic year-to-year swings, which may explain some volatility. Still, there are bright spots: 10th graders exceed the state in PSAT ELA (66.7% vs. 58.0%), and the improving 6th grade scores suggest early interventions may be working. Parents should note that while the school struggles in upper-grade science, social studies, and math, its graduation outcomes remain solid, and addressing absenteeism could be key to reversing the downward trend.
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