Summary:
Zip code 48617 is home to a single middle school, Clare Middle School, which serves grades 5 through 8 within the Clare Public Schools district, enrolling 474 students in a community where about 42% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
For parents considering this school, the most striking positive is attendance: only 13.4% of students are chronically absent, which is less than half the state average of 27.9%. Academically, the picture is mixed. The school’s strongest area is 5th grade Social Studies, where 32.8% of students are proficient—5.3 points above the state average. Lower-grade ELA showed big improvements this year, with 5th grade jumping 11.7 points to 42.5% proficiency and 7th grade rising 10 points to 34.5%. However, math remains a persistent weakness, with proficiency rates between 18% and 25% across all grades—roughly 8 to 14 points below state averages. Upper grades also struggled this year: 8th grade Social Studies dropped 10 points to 39.6%, and PSAT ELA fell 9.5 points to 58.9%, though that still outpaces M-Step ELA results in other grades.
A notable concern is the school’s declining state ranking, which has fallen from 423rd (53rd percentile) in 2023-2024 to 537th (40th percentile) in 2025-2026, even as some test scores improved—suggesting peer schools are advancing faster. There’s also a significant grade-level gap in ELA: 6th grade proficiency (22.3%) trails 5th grade (42.5%) by 20 points, hinting at a possible transition-year challenge. Overall, Clare Middle School offers a strong attendance foundation and some bright spots in lower grades, but families should be aware of the math deficits and the downward ranking trend when evaluating the school.
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