Summary:
Zip code 48326, covering Auburn Hills, MI, is served by five schools—three elementary schools and two high schools—spanning two districts, the Avondale School District and the Pontiac City School District, with a total enrollment of 1,922 students.
For parents, the standout high school is clearly Avondale High School, which posts a 90.9% graduation rate—far above its district’s 70.4% average and the state’s 84.0%—and the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (22.4%) in the area, the only school here below the state average. At the elementary level, R Grant Graham Elementary School generally outperforms Auburn Elementary School in math (e.g., 5th-grade math: 18.5% vs. 11.1% proficiency) despite both having similar economic disadvantage rates (62% vs. 61.9%). Rogers School, the sole Pontiac City school, shows improvement in 3rd-grade math (26.7% to 36.6%) but still lags significantly, with a 65.6% chronic absenteeism rate—more than double the state average—and the highest free/reduced lunch rate at 70%. The Avondale Learning Center is a niche outlier with only 8 students, all 12th graders, and a 2.5:1 student-teacher ratio, likely serving credit recovery.
Key takeaways: Spending does not predict success—Auburn Elementary spends the most ($25,512 per student) yet has the lowest elementary ranking (20th percentile), while R Grant Graham spends less ($17,586) and performs better. Chronic absenteeism strongly correlates with lower test scores, as seen at Rogers School. Also, both Avondale elementary schools underperform their own district averages (e.g., 3rd-grade ELA: 25.4% and 16.9% vs. district 49.7%), signaling a need for targeted intervention in this zip code specifically.
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