Ferndale Upper Elementary Campus

Ferndale Upper Elementary Campus in Oak Park, MI, serves 501 students in grades K-6 as part of the Ferndale Public Schools district, and has climbed from the 14th percentile statewide a decade ago to the 45th percentile today—a story of steady, sustained improvement.

For parents, the most useful context comes from comparing Ferndale Upper to its immediate neighbors. This school sits in a polarized landscape: to the north and west, Berkley School District schools like Burton Elementary and Rogers Elementary rank in the 80th-98th percentile, while to the south and east, Oak Park School District schools like Pepper Elementary and Key Elementary sit in the bottom 10th percentile. Ferndale Upper is a clear outperformer compared to Oak Park schools—for example, 3rd-grade ELA proficiency is 43.6% here versus 10.2% at Pepper—but trails Berkley schools significantly, with 5th-grade math at 20.8% compared to 64.3% at Burton. The school also has a much lower poverty rate (45% free/reduced lunch) than Oak Park schools (78-99%) but higher than Berkley (3-20%), which helps explain its middle-ground position.

Academically, Ferndale Upper shows genuine strengths in early literacy—3rd and 4th-grade ELA exceed state averages—but faces challenges in math at every grade level and a noticeable "5th-grade slump" in reading. The school also struggles with significant internal gaps: White and Multi-racial students rank in the 72nd and 80th percentiles statewide, while African American and low-income students rank in the bottom quartile, and special education students have ranked in the bottom 1-3% for two straight years. On a positive note, chronic absenteeism has dropped from 35.6% to 25.8% over three years, which is far better than nearby Oak Park schools (56-66%) and likely tied to the school's rising performance. Per-student spending ($16,266) is comparable to the high-performing Berkley schools, suggesting funding alone doesn't explain the achievement differences.