Summary:
The city of Olivet, Michigan, is served by the three schools of the Olivet Community Schools district, which together educate 1,239 students across grades PK-12 in a moderately affluent, small-town community. The district as a whole earns a 4-star rating and ranks in the 70th percentile statewide, placing it comfortably above average for Michigan.
Each school has its own distinct strengths. Olivet High School is the district’s standout for post-secondary readiness, having jumped from the 54th to the 75th percentile in state rankings over just two years. It boasts a 92.4% graduation rate (well above the state’s 84.0%) and a dropout rate of just 0.9%. Its 11th graders also shine on the M-Step, with 55.4% proficiency in both Science and Social Studies, far exceeding state averages. Meanwhile, Olivet Middle School excels in English Language Arts, where 8th graders hit 73.6% proficiency on the PSAT, and it also posts strong scores in 5th-grade Science (50.5%) and 8th-grade Social Studies (51.1%). At the foundational level, Fern Persons Elementary School leads in early literacy, with 3rd-grade ELA proficiency (42.9%) above the state average, and it offers the district’s most favorable student-teacher ratio at 13.8:1.
The most pressing concern is a sharp drop in middle school math: only 17.4% of 6th graders are proficient, versus 48.6% of 4th graders—a pattern that may reflect pandemic-era learning loss. This math weakness persists into high school, where SAT Math proficiency (36.1%) lags far behind SAT Reading and Writing (61.4%). On a positive note, chronic absenteeism is low across all three schools (17.4%–20.8% versus the state’s 27.9%), and per-student spending is highest at the high school ($15,486), which may be fueling its recent turnaround. For parents, this district offers strong literacy outcomes and excellent high school completion rates, but families should be aware of the math challenges that emerge around 6th grade.
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