Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 48638

Zip code 48638 in Saginaw, Michigan, is served by a single middle school, White Pine Middle School, which enrolls 1,019 students across grades 6-8 as part of the Saginaw Township Community Schools district.

White Pine Middle School is a large school with a notable socioeconomic mix, as nearly half of its students (48.4%) qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school’s chronic absenteeism rate of 27.9% exactly matches the state average, which is a positive sign given its poverty levels, and it is actually better than the district’s 30.9% rate. The school also benefits from substantial funding at $16,412 per student and maintains a reasonable student-teacher ratio of 16.3:1. Academically, the school’s strongest area is 8th grade social studies, where 49.8% of students are proficient, nearly matching the state’s 50.3%. Its 7th grade ELA performance is also relatively solid at 37.0% proficiency, just 1.4 points below the state. However, mathematics is a persistent weakness across all grades, with proficiency rates ranging from just 21.3% in 6th grade to 26.0% on the 8th grade PSAT—all roughly 7 to 10 percentage points behind state averages.

Year-over-year trends reveal significant volatility, particularly in 8th grade. Between 2024-25 and 2025-26, PSAT ELA scores dropped sharply by 7.7 points (from 64.2% to 56.5%), while PSAT math improved by 6.5 points (from 19.5% to 26.0%) and social studies rose 5.4 points. The most concerning decline is in 7th grade math, which fell from 30.7% to 23.9% proficiency—a nearly 7-point drop. Despite these fluctuations, the school’s statewide ranking has remained remarkably stable, hovering between 478th and 489th out of roughly 890 schools (45th-47th percentile). Notably, every test score reported for White Pine exactly matches the district average, confirming it is the district’s only middle school. The disconnect between high per-student spending and below-average academic outcomes, especially in math, suggests parents should inquire about how resources are allocated to support math instruction and intervention programs.