Summary:
The city of Memphis, Michigan, is served by the Memphis Community Schools district, which includes two schools—Memphis Elementary School (grades PK-6) and Memphis Junior/Senior High School (grades 7-12)—together educating about 709 students in a small, rural community setting.
For parents, the standout is Memphis Elementary School, which delivers exceptional academic results. It beat the state average in every subject and grade level tested in the most recent year, with 4th-grade math proficiency reaching 71.7%—more than 30 points above the state. This success is especially notable because about 32% of its students are economically disadvantaged, yet the school maintains a 4-star rating and a low student-teacher ratio of 12.8. In contrast, Memphis Junior/Senior High School shows a mixed picture. It shines in English and graduation, with a 98.2% graduation rate (far above the state’s 84%) and strong PSAT ELA scores. However, it struggles significantly in math and science at the upper grades, with 11th-grade SAT math proficiency at just 16.7% versus the state’s 26.5%.
The most striking takeaway is a clear "math erosion" pattern. Elementary students excel in math (5th grade: 63.6% proficiency), but by 8th grade that drops to 30.2%, and by 11th grade it falls to 16.7%. This suggests the elementary school builds a strong foundation that the junior/senior high school fails to sustain. The district’s overall 3-star rating masks this internal divide. On a positive note, both schools have chronic absenteeism rates (around 17-18%) well below the state average of 27.9%, and the high school’s science scores have shown improvement. Resource differences—the elementary school spends more per student ($15,539 vs. $14,413) and has smaller classes—may explain part of the performance gap, making this a key area for district leaders to address.
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