Onaway Elementary School

Onaway Elementary School serves approximately 246 students in grades K-5 in the rural community of Onaway, Michigan, and is part of the Onaway Area Community School District.

Onaway Elementary is currently facing significant academic challenges. After reaching a 92nd percentile ranking in 2015-2016, the school has declined steadily and now sits in the 25th percentile statewide. This downward trend has accelerated recently, with proficiency rates dropping dramatically across most subjects and grade levels between 2023-2024 and 2025-2026. For example, 4th grade math proficiency fell from 38.5% to just 16.2%, and 3rd grade ELA dropped from 38.6% to 23.1%. The achievement gap with nearby schools is striking—Wolverine Elementary School achieves proficiency rates above 52% in both 4th grade ELA and math, while Onaway sits at 10.8% and 16.2% respectively. This gap exists despite Onaway spending more per student ($16,194) than either Wolverine ($14,985) or Inland Lakes Elementary School ($14,733), and despite serving a lower percentage of economically disadvantaged students (63.4% vs. Wolverine's 75.6%).

There are some encouraging signs. Onaway has made remarkable progress reducing chronic absenteeism from 51.4% in 2022-2023 to just 12.7% in 2024-2025—now far better than the state average of 27.9% and neighboring schools. The school also shows relative strength in 5th grade social studies, outperforming Inland Lakes in the most recent testing cycle. The absenteeism turnaround demonstrates the school's capacity for improvement when focused efforts are applied. However, the broader picture remains concerning: the school's history of excellence (92nd percentile just a decade ago) shows that high achievement is possible in this community, making the current trajectory particularly troubling for parents considering this school for their children.