Essexville-Hampton Public Schools

Essexville-Hampton Public Schools is a small Michigan district of four schools serving roughly 1,523 students in grades PK-12, with two elementary schools, one junior high, and one high school. The district ranks in the 64th percentile statewide, but that overall rating is heavily lifted by Garber High School, which is the clear academic standout.

Garber High School earns a 4-star rating and ranks in the 72nd percentile, with a 91.6% graduation rate and a remarkably low 0.8% dropout rate—nearly nine times better than the state average. Its students far exceed state averages in ELA, scoring 77% on the 10th-grade PSAT versus 58% statewide, and 59.8% on SAT Reading/Writing versus 52.1%. However, math is a district-wide weakness: Garber's SAT Math proficiency is just 19.6%, and Cramer Junior High School shows a dramatic "middle school slide," with 5th-grade math proficiency at only 10.4%—nearly 22 points below the state. By contrast, Verellen Elementary School posts strong 3rd-grade math scores (49.5%, above the state), suggesting a sharp drop-off between elementary and middle school that may point to curriculum misalignment.

ELA performance follows an unusual pattern: elementary students at Verellen Elementary School score below state averages in 3rd and 4th grade, yet by 8th grade at Cramer Junior High School they are slightly above state, and by high school they dramatically outperform. WR Bush Elementary School serves only PK-1 and has no current test data, but spends the most per student ($13,029) and has the highest poverty rate (46.6%). All four schools keep chronic absenteeism below the state average, and the district shows a hidden strength in social studies. Still, with poverty rates near 50% at the elementary level and math lagging at nearly every grade, families should watch how the district addresses early math instruction and the transition into middle school.