Best Elementary Schools in Michigan for Special Education Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in Michigan!

Every year, the Michigan Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Special Education students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Michigan test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the M-Step test scores by the Michigan Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, August 28, 2025.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (Special Education vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 252)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Statewide Rank Percentile (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
1	Orchard View Elementary School	Public	K-5	2770 Leffingwell Ave NE	Grand Rapids	49525	Kent County	Forest Hills Public Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(616) 493-8930	439	29	14.9	22.1%	309 (70.4%)	16 (3.6%)	31 (7.1%)	44 (10.0%)	2 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	36 (8.2%)	$16,391			$1,980			$14,411	99.6%	89.7%	9.95%			261461005156
2	Meridian Elementary School	Public	K-5	26700 Meridian Rd	Grosse Ile	48138	Wayne County	Grosse Ile Township Schools	No	No	No	No	(734) 362-2700	313	16	19.3	17.3%	273 (87.2%)	4 (1.3%)	15 (4.8%)	9 (2.9%)	7 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (1.6%)	$16,142			$1,256			$14,886	99.2%	90.7%	8.55%			261722005403
3	South Elementary School	Public	K-5	4900 40th Ave	Hudsonville	49426	Ottawa County	Hudsonville Public School District	No	No	No	Yes	(616) 669-9362	391	24	16.1	27.1%	304 (77.7%)	11 (2.8%)	41 (10.5%)	15 (3.8%)	1 (0.3%)	1 (0.3%)	18 (4.6%)	$14,476			$1,013			$13,463	98.8%	88.0%	10.77%			261884005566
4	Knapp Forest Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	4243 Knapp Valley Dr NE	Grand Rapids	49525	Kent County	Forest Hills Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(616) 493-8980	520	29	17.7	5.6%	437 (84.0%)	1 (0.2%)	19 (3.7%)	37 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (5.0%)	$13,514			$1,321			$12,193	98.4%	99.6%	1.18%			261461001550
5	Lincoln Elementary School	Public	K-5	60 E Lincoln Ave	Zeeland	49464	Ottawa County	Zeeland Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(616) 748-3350	361	25	14.5	21.9%	261 (72.3%)	3 (0.8%)	71 (19.7%)	7 (1.9%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (5.0%)	$15,247			$469			$14,778	98.0%	85.4%	12.60%			263666007291
6	George Defer Elementary School	Public	K-4	15425 Kercheval Ave	Grosse Pointe Park	48230	Wayne County	Grosse Pointe Public Schools	No	No	No	No	(313) 432-4000	460	27	16.8	12.2%	372 (80.9%)	28 (6.1%)	18 (3.9%)	12 (2.6%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (6.3%)	$15,528			$1,268			$14,260	97.6%	95.9%	1.72%			262574006219
7	Lincoln School	Public, Magnet	K-5	616 Connable Ave	Petoskey	49770	Emmet County	Public Schools of Petoskey	No	Yes	No	Yes	(231) 348-2120	237	16	14.8	30.4%	206 (86.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.0%)	3 (1.3%)	3 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (7.6%)	$17,056			$1,292			$15,764	97.2%	92.0%	5.22%			262793006370
8	Spencer Road Elementary School	Public	K-4	10639 Spencer Rd	Brighton	48114	Livingston County	Brighton Area Schools	No	No	No	Yes	(810) 299-4350	507	29	17.3	14.0%	473 (93.3%)	1 (0.2%)	17 (3.4%)	4 (0.8%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (2.2%)	$13,759			$1,839			$11,920	96.8%	94.0%	2.87%			260687004288
9	Issac Monfort Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-6	6700 Montgomery Dr	Shelby Township	48316	Macomb County	Utica Community Schools	No	No	No	No	(586) 797-5700	525	31	17.1	43.0%	400 (76.2%)	24 (4.6%)	32 (6.1%)	42 (8.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (5.1%)	$15,076			$1,189			$13,887	96.4%	80.7%	15.72%			263447007011
10	Conant Elementary School	Public	PK, KG-5	4100 Quarton Rd	Bloomfield Hills	48302	Oakland County	Bloomfield Hills Schools	No	No	No	No	(248) 341-7000	504	35	14.4	6.7%	391 (77.6%)	32 (6.3%)	17 (3.4%)	38 (7.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (5.2%)	$20,491			$812			$19,679	96.0%	94.0%	2.01%			260609004233

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Michigan

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for MI student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Low Socio Economic Status Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on M-Step English Language Arts, M-Step Math, M-Step Science, M-Step Social Studies test scores released by the Michigan Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on August 28, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Michigan Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Michigan Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Michigan Department of Education.