Summary:
Zip code 48176 in Saline, Michigan, is home to four elementary schools within the Saline Area Schools district, serving a combined 2,012 students across two distinct grade configurations: three K-3 schools and one 4-5 school.
For parents, the standout is Heritage School, which serves grades 4-5 and holds a 94th percentile state ranking with a 5-star rating, placing it 83rd out of 1,492 Michigan elementary schools. Its 4th-grade math proficiency (74.4%) and 5th-grade science proficiency (66.3%) are roughly double the state averages. Among the K-3 schools, Harvest Elementary School is the clear leader, posting exceptional 3rd-grade scores of 79.1% in English Language Arts and 83.5% in Math—outperforming Pleasant Ridge Elementary School by nearly 28 points in ELA and Woodland Meadows Elementary School by over 15 points in Math. Harvest also has the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (10.25%) among the K-3 schools. Pleasant Ridge shows a concerning 12.6-point drop in 3rd-grade ELA proficiency (down to 51.2%), while its math scores remained relatively stable, suggesting a possible curriculum or cohort issue worth investigating.
All four schools dramatically outperform state averages across every subject, with proficiency rates 20-40 points higher than Michigan's norms. Chronic absenteeism is remarkably low across the board—ranging from 10.6% at Harvest to 12.7% at Heritage—compared to the state's 27.9% average. Interestingly, spending does not correlate with performance: Heritage School spends the least per student ($15,154) yet achieves the highest rankings, while Pleasant Ridge spends $18,215 but shows the weakest academics. Heritage's ranking improved dramatically from 156th to 83rd in two years, though its 5th-grade social studies proficiency (49.5%) lags behind other subjects. The district's unique K-3-to-4-5 pipeline means students from three different elementary schools converge at Heritage, where performance appears to equalize by 4th grade.
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