Ishpeming Public School District No. 1

The Ishpeming Public School District No. 1 serves 612 students across four schools in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, including one elementary school, one middle school, and two high schools, with nearly half of its elementary students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

For parents, the standout school is Ishpeming High School, which is the only school in the district with a graduation rate (84.4%) that meets the state average. It also outperforms the state in 9th and 10th-grade PSAT English Language Arts, though its 11th-grade SAT math proficiency is very low at 11.9%. In contrast, the IshpemingNegauneeNICE Community Educational Division, a small alternative high school with just 22 students, is in crisis with a 20% graduation rate and a 50% dropout rate. The Ishpeming Middle School shows mixed results—its 8th-grade PSAT ELA proficiency (60.9%) is close to the state average, but math proficiency is a major concern at just 10.9% versus the state's 33.2%. Birchview School struggles significantly in both ELA and math, with 4th-grade math proficiency at a critical low of 8.33%.

A district-wide math challenge is evident across all grade levels, from elementary through high school, suggesting a systemic issue requiring a cohesive strategy. However, there is a notable strength in English Language Arts at the high school level, which could be leveraged to improve other subjects. Chronic absenteeism is better than the state average at 22.2%, with Birchview having the lowest rate at 15.8%. Resource allocation raises questions: the alternative high school, serving the most at-risk students, receives the lowest per-student funding ($12,685), while the main high school receives the highest ($19,267). Finally, both Birchview and Ishpeming Middle School have shown declining performance trajectories over the past three years, indicating challenges are not isolated to the alternative school.