Summary:
Cedar Springs Middle School is the sole middle school in the Cedar Springs Public Schools district, serving grades 6-8 with 657 students in a moderately sized Michigan community.
This school has shown remarkable momentum, climbing from the 59th to the 74th percentile in state rankings over just two years and earning a consistent 4-star rating. Its greatest academic strength is 8th-grade social studies, where 60.7% of students are proficient—a full 10.4 points above the state average. The school also outperforms Michigan averages in 6th and 7th-grade ELA and math, with proficiency rates running 4.7 to 7.6 points higher. However, there is one notable concern: 8th-grade PSAT math proficiency (29.8%) falls below the state average (33.2%), and this score dropped nearly 5 points year-over-year. Meanwhile, 8th-grade scores declined across all subjects, even as 6th and 7th-grade scores improved substantially—suggesting the current 8th-grade cohort may be struggling relative to prior groups, or that improvement efforts are taking hold more effectively in lower grades.
For parents, the overall picture is positive. Chronic absenteeism sits at 19.0%, well below the state's 27.9% rate, though slightly above the district's 17.5%. With 38.2% of students receiving free/reduced lunch, the school serves a moderate share of economically disadvantaged families yet still beats state proficiency averages in most subjects. Per-student spending is $13,721 with a student-teacher ratio of 18.4:1, indicating efficient resource use. The school's ELA results also show a notable jump between 7th and 8th grade—from roughly 43% proficiency on M-Step to 69.4% on PSAT—which may reflect different test formats or genuine skill growth. While the PSAT math gap deserves attention, Cedar Springs Middle School demonstrates strong, improving academics and a clear upward trajectory that makes it a solid choice for families in the district.
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