Summary:
The Ludington Area School District is served by a single middle school, OJ DeJonge Middle School, which enrolls 447 students in grades 6-8 in Ludington, Michigan.
OJ DeJonge Middle School is a consistently high-performing school, ranking in the top 25% of Michigan middle schools for three straight years and earning a 4-star rating each time. The school's greatest strengths are in 6th grade, where students dramatically outperform state averages in both math (45.9% proficient vs. 31.9% statewide) and ELA (50.0% vs. 37.5%). The 6th grade math score represents a remarkable 16.8-point improvement over the previous year. Eighth graders also shine in social studies (60.7% proficient, 10.4 points above the state) and PSAT ELA (73.5%, 8.7 points above the state). However, 7th grade math is a weak spot, sitting right at the state average (32.9% vs. 33.3%), and 7th grade ELA shows only a modest 2.7-point advantage over the state. This creates a clear pattern where 6th graders excel but 7th graders struggle to maintain that momentum.
One notable concern is chronic absenteeism: 25.7% of students are chronically absent, which is nearly 6 points higher than the district average of 19.9%, though slightly below the state rate of 27.9%. This is surprising given the school's strong test scores, suggesting that regularly attending students are high achievers. The school spends $15,163 per student with a 15.7:1 student-teacher ratio, and about 38% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. While the school's overall stability is impressive, the dramatic 6th grade math improvement warrants attention as a potential model for other grades, and addressing absenteeism could help unlock even stronger results across all grade levels.
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