Summary:
Morrice Area Schools serves the small, rural community of Morrice, Michigan, with just two schools—Morrice Area High School (grades 6-12, 215 students) and Morrice Area Elementary School (grades PK-5, 196 students)—together educating about 411 students in a district ranked in the 42nd percentile statewide.
The two schools present very different pictures. Morrice Area High School boasts an exceptional 96.5% graduation rate (12.5 points above the state average) with zero dropouts, and its performance swings wildly from year to year—jumping from a 2-star to a 4-star rating in 2024-2025 before falling back to 2 stars the following year. This volatility stems from small class sizes where a single strong cohort can dramatically shift results. The high school also shows consistent strength in 8th-grade science, scoring above state averages both years. In contrast, Morrice Area Elementary School has remained stuck at 1-2 stars for three straight years, with reading proficiency particularly concerning—3rd, 4th, and 5th graders score 13-21 points below state averages in English Language Arts. The elementary school does enjoy a favorable 10.8:1 student-teacher ratio (versus 18.9:1 at the high school), yet still underperforms.
Notable findings include a large spending gap—the high school spends $21,455 per student versus $11,196 at the elementary school—and chronic absenteeism that, while below state averages, still affects roughly one in four high schoolers. The elementary school's 5th-grade science scores swung from 45% proficiency to just 18.5% in one year, again reflecting tiny test cohorts. For parents, the key takeaway is that Morrice Area High School demonstrates capacity for excellence and strong graduation outcomes, while Morrice Area Elementary School needs focused attention on early literacy. Given the small numbers, families should look at multi-year trends rather than any single year's results.
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