Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 48504

Zip code 48504 in Michigan is served by a single middle school, Hamady Middle School, which enrolls 154 students in grades 7 and 8 and is part of the Westwood Heights Schools district.

Hamady Middle School faces significant challenges that parents should understand. The school ranks in the bottom 3rd percentile statewide (869th out of 896 schools), and academic proficiency rates are far below state averages across every subject. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 6.3% of 8th graders were proficient in science and just 7.7% in social studies, compared to state averages of 41.1% and 47.0%, respectively. The achievement gap ranges from 28 to 50 percentage points depending on the subject and grade. A staggering 92.21% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating extreme poverty levels, and 55% of students are chronically absent—nearly double the state average of 27.9%. This absenteeism rate mirrors the district average of 53.5%, suggesting it is a systemic issue across Westwood Heights rather than a problem isolated to this school alone.

Despite these difficulties, there are some encouraging signs. Per-student spending is high at $19,556, and the student-teacher ratio is a favorable 13.7, allowing for smaller class sizes. More importantly, 8th-grade scores improved year-over-year: English Language Arts proficiency on the PSAT rose from 15.4% in 2024-2025 to 26.7% in 2025-2026, and social studies jumped from 7.7% to 18.3%. While these gains are modest and the school remains far behind state benchmarks, they suggest that recent interventions may be starting to take effect. However, the combination of extreme poverty, high chronic absenteeism, and low academic performance indicates that financial resources alone are not enough to overcome these barriers. Parents considering this school should be aware that while the school is investing heavily in its students, the path to academic recovery will require sustained effort, particularly in addressing the attendance crisis that affects more than half of the student body.