Robert J West Middle School

Robert J West Middle School in Taylor, MI, serves 641 students in grades 6-8 and is part of the Taylor School District, a district that has faced significant challenges in recent years.

Robert J West is the higher-performing of the two middle schools in its district, consistently outpacing Hoover Middle School across nearly all subjects and grade levels. For example, in 8th-grade Social Studies, 39.5% of West students were proficient compared to just 16.8% at Hoover. Social Studies is a relative strength for the school, with proficiency rates only about 11 percentage points below the state average—a much smaller gap than in other subjects like Science, where the gap exceeds 22 points. However, the school's overall academic performance remains well below state averages, and it has held a 1-star rating for the past decade. Notably, the school's state ranking has declined dramatically from a peak of 402nd in the 2016-2017 school year to its current position around 712th.

The most pressing challenge is chronic absenteeism. While the rate has improved from a peak of 79.2% in 2021-2022, the current rate of 43.7% remains far above the state average of 27.9% and is nearly double the rates at nearby schools like Allen Park Middle School (22.2%) and Seitz Middle School (26.1%). Interestingly, Robert J West spends significantly more per student ($20,017) than higher-performing neighbors like Allen Park ($13,720) and Seitz ($12,315), suggesting the issue is not a lack of funding but rather how resources are used. Subgroup data shows pockets of relative success—African American and Hispanic students rank in the 47th and 49th percentiles statewide, respectively—while other groups lag further behind. With 76.4% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, the school faces substantial economic hurdles that require targeted interventions, particularly around attendance and instructional support.