North Central Elementary School

North Central Elementary School in Hermansville, MI, is a small, rural school serving 123 students in grades PK through 5, and is part of the North Central Area Schools district.

Over the past decade, this school has experienced a significant decline in academic performance. Once a high-performing school with a 4-star rating, it has now received a 2-star rating for four consecutive years. In the most recent school year, its overall state ranking fell to the 41st percentile, a stark contrast to nearby NorwayVulcan Elementary School (91st percentile) and Bark RiverHarris Elementary School (73rd percentile). This gap is especially noticeable in 5th grade, where only 27.6% of North Central students are proficient in math, compared to 65.7% at NorwayVulcan. In 5th grade science, North Central's proficiency rate of 24.1% is less than half of both neighboring schools' rates of roughly 60%. The school also spends more per student ($17,246) than its higher-performing neighbors, raising questions about how resources are being used.

There are some positive signs, however. Chronic absenteeism has dropped dramatically from 28.5% to just 11.7% in one year—a rate well below the state average and a strong indicator of improved student engagement. That said, test scores remain highly volatile from year to year, making it difficult to see consistent progress. For example, 5th grade English proficiency swung from 60.9% to just 15.8% in a single year. Additionally, the school shows uneven results across different groups of students, performing relatively well for female students but much lower for male students. While the school serves a community where 50-59% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, the data suggests that targeted support may be needed to address the widening achievement gap as students move through the grades.