Harrison Middle School

Harrison Middle School in Harrison, MI, serves 279 students in grades 6-8 and is part of the Harrison Community Schools district, a rural district where nearly 80% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

The most striking finding is that this school excels with its special education students, ranking in the 80th percentile statewide and earning a 4-star rating—a remarkable achievement that outpaces its performance with any other group. At the same time, the school struggles profoundly with its general education population, ranking in the 7th percentile for white students. This "tale of two schools" suggests that the strategies and resources driving success in special education could serve as a model for improving the general curriculum. The school also spends significantly more per student ($17,230) than nearby Gladwin Junior High School ($12,876) and Clare Middle School ($13,918), yet its overall academic outcomes are the lowest among its neighbors.

Chronic absenteeism is a severe and growing concern, with 36.3% of students chronically absent in the most recent year—far above the state average of 27.9% and much higher than Clare's 13.4%. This likely drives the volatile test scores, which swing dramatically from year to year. For example, 6th-grade English proficiency jumped from 6.4% to 24% over three years, while 8th-grade science swung from 20.3% to 43.9% and back down to 18.2%. While the high poverty rate is a real challenge, Farwell Middle School has a similar poverty level yet outperforms Harrison in several subjects, suggesting room for improvement in instruction and student engagement.