Summary:
Hillman Community Schools is a small, rural Michigan district with just two schools—Hillman Community JrSr High School (grades 6–12, 229 students) and Hillman Elementary School (grades PK–5, 203 students)—serving roughly 432 students total.
The two schools present contrasting profiles. Hillman Community JrSr High School is the district's standout, earning a 4-star rating and ranking in the 83rd percentile statewide in 2023–2024, though it has since settled to the 42nd percentile. Its graduation rate is excellent at 92.8%, well above the state's 84.0%, and its upper-grade reading is a genuine bright spot: 8th graders hit 68.6% proficiency on the PSAT (beating the state by 3.8 points) and 11th graders reached 57.1% on SAT reading (5 points above state). However, math is a systemic weakness here—every grade level trails the state by 15 to 29 points, with only 8.6% of 8th graders and 11.4% of 11th graders proficient. Hillman Elementary School is improving, climbing from the 24th to 33rd percentile over two years, and posts better chronic absenteeism (22.9%) than the state average (27.9%). Its 5th graders nearly match state averages in ELA (42.1% vs. 43.8%), science (39.5% vs. 40.0%), and social studies (26.3% vs. 27.5%), but younger grades struggle significantly—4th grade math proficiency sits at just 10.8% versus 39.4% statewide.
For parents, the key takeaway is that this district offers strong graduation outcomes and impressive upper-grade reading, but math instruction needs urgent attention across all grades. The high school's chronic absenteeism (31.2%) is notably worse than the elementary's (22.9%), suggesting engagement drops as students age. With per-pupil spending of $16,400–$16,812 and favorable student-teacher ratios (14.2:1 elementary, 16.1:1 secondary), the district is well-resourced, yet results are uneven. Small class sizes mean year-to-year scores can swing dramatically—4th grade math dropped 28 points in one year—so parents should look at multi-year trends rather than any single test result.
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