Summary:
Adams Township School District is home to just one high school, Jeffers High School, a small rural school in Painesdale, MI, serving grades 7-12 with about 270 students. This school has made a dramatic turnaround in recent years, jumping from the 49th percentile statewide in 2023-24 to the 80th percentile in 2024-25, and it currently holds a 4-star rating while ranking in the 74th percentile for 2025-26.
Jeffers is a standout for its exceptional student retention and math achievement. The school boasts a 94.8% graduation rate and a perfect 0.0% dropout rate, far exceeding state averages. In mathematics, students outperform the state by a remarkable 15 to 25 percentage points at every grade level, from 7th-grade M-Step through the 11th-grade SAT. Middle school science and social studies scores are also strong, with 8th graders beating state averages by about 20 points. However, performance dips in the upper grades, particularly in English Language Arts. While 11th-grade SAT reading/writing scores fell sharply from 65% to 50.9% in one year, math scores remained stable, suggesting the issue may be specific to ELA instruction or a particular cohort of students.
With a moderate poverty rate (31.85% free/reduced lunch) and a student-teacher ratio of 16.5:1, Jeffers proves that a small rural school can deliver strong results. Chronic absenteeism (18.5%) is better than the state average but higher than the district's overall rate, indicating attendance challenges are concentrated at the high school level. The recent dip in state ranking (from 150th to 206th) and declining ELA scores warrant monitoring, but in a school this small, year-to-year swings can be driven by just a few students. Overall, Jeffers offers a supportive, high-performing environment with a clear strength in math, though families should watch how upper-grade literacy trends develop.
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