Summary:
Zip code 48382, located in Commerce Township, MI, is home to a single middle school, Clifford H Smart Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 888 students as part of the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools district.
For parents considering this area, Clifford H Smart Middle School is a high-achieving institution that consistently outperforms both its district and the state average across all subjects and grade levels. The school holds a 4-star rating and ranks 125th out of 896 schools statewide (86th percentile) for the 2025-2026 school year. Its student body is relatively affluent, with only 20.16% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and the school benefits from a low chronic absenteeism rate of 18.4% compared to the state's 27.9%. Per-student spending is robust at $14,930, and the student-teacher ratio is 20.7. Academically, the school shows particular strength in 8th-grade Social Studies, where 67.9% of students are proficient versus 50.3% statewide, and 8th-grade PSAT English Language Arts proficiency is an impressive 75.4%.
However, there are notable trends that parents should be aware of. The school's state ranking has slipped from a peak of 71st (5 stars) in 2023-2024 to 125th (4 stars) in 2025-2026, indicating that while absolute scores remain high, other Michigan schools are improving at a faster pace. More concerning is a consistent year-over-year decline in proficiency across nearly every subject and grade level from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026—for example, 7th-grade ELA dropped from 60.5% to 51.4%, and 8th-grade Science fell from 66.8% to 56.4%. Additionally, there is a stark 26-point gap in 8th-grade PSAT scores, with 75.4% proficient in ELA but only 49.3% in Math, suggesting a potential weakness in advanced math skills. While the school remains a strong choice, these trends warrant attention from the district to ensure continued improvement.
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