Elementary Schools in Akron-Fairgrove Schools

AkronFairgrove Elementary School is the sole elementary school within the Akron-Fairgrove Schools district, serving grades PK-5 in the small, rural community of Akron, MI, with a total enrollment of just 179 students.

For parents considering this school, the most important takeaway is that AkronFairgrove Elementary is a small, tight-knit school with notable strengths and significant year-to-year swings in test scores. The school’s biggest academic bright spot is 5th grade science, where proficiency rates have consistently landed around 50%—roughly 10 points above the state average. Chronic absenteeism is also a clear positive, sitting at just 16.3%, which is far better than both the district (24.2%) and the state (27.9%), especially given that nearly 64% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. However, performance in English language arts and math is more uneven. While 3rd grade math actually exceeded the state average in 2025-2026 (43.5% vs. 42.9%), 4th and 5th grade scores fell well below state benchmarks. The most striking pattern is the extreme volatility between grade levels and years—for example, the 4th grade class posted a 68% ELA proficiency rate in 2024-2025, but the following year’s 5th grade class (likely the same cohort) dropped to just 25%. With only about 25-35 students per grade, a single student’s performance can shift percentages by 3-4 points, making these swings less reliable indicators of overall school quality.

The school itself has earned a 3-star rating in recent years (56th percentile), outperforming its district’s overall 2-star ranking, though it slipped to 2 stars in 2025-2026. Per-student spending is relatively high at $14,444, which is typical for small rural districts with fixed costs spread across fewer students. Social studies proficiency also declined from 34.5% to 25%, now trailing the state average. Overall, parents should view AkronFairgrove as a school with strong science instruction and good attendance, but one where academic outcomes in core subjects can vary widely from year to year due to its very small class sizes.