Washington School

Washington School is a K-6 elementary school in Bessemer, MI, serving 179 students as part of the Bessemer Area School District, a small district in Michigan's Upper Peninsula with no other schools within 20 miles.

Washington School shows a complex picture of strengths and challenges. The school's most notable success is with its low-income students, who have consistently earned 3-star ratings and ranked in the 57th to 65th percentile statewide for three straight years. This suggests that programs designed to support economically disadvantaged students are working well. However, the school struggles significantly with its male students, who ranked in just the 29th percentile (1 star) in the most recent year, a gap that has persisted for several years. Chronic absenteeism is also a major concern, with rates above 34% for the past four years—well above the state average of 27.9%—which likely impacts overall academic progress.

Academically, the most glaring weakness is 4th-grade math, where proficiency has hovered between just 14% and 17% for three consecutive years, far below state averages. English language arts performance is more volatile, with scores swinging dramatically from year to year—likely due to small class sizes. There is a bright spot in 6th-grade ELA, where students recently achieved 48% proficiency, beating the state average of 38.6%. Despite spending an exceptionally high $21,424 per student—more than double the national average—and maintaining a favorable 11:1 student-teacher ratio, overall results remain mid-to-low tier. The school's leadership may benefit from examining what works for its low-income students and applying those strategies more broadly, while also investigating the root causes of the gender gap and 4th-grade math struggles.