Summary:
Zip code 48763 is home to just one middle school, Tawas Area Middle School, which serves grades 5 through 8 in Tawas City, Michigan, with an enrollment of 340 students.
For parents considering this area, Tawas Area Middle School is a solid, improving choice with clear strengths in several subjects. The school has been climbing the state rankings for three straight years, moving from the 58th percentile to the 69th percentile, and it currently holds a 3-star rating. Its strongest performances are in science and social studies, where it beats state averages by roughly 9 to 14 percentage points across 5th and 8th grades. Eighth graders also shine on the PSAT English Language Arts portion, with 74.4% proficient compared to the state’s 64.8%. Attendance is another major plus—chronic absenteeism sits at just 19.8%, well below the state’s 27.9%, which suggests students are engaged and showing up ready to learn.
The main concern is mathematics. The school trails the state average in nearly every grade level, with the biggest gap in 5th grade (24.1% vs. 32.2% proficient) and a similar deficit on the 8th grade PSAT math test. This math weakness is consistent across all grades, indicating a systemic issue rather than a one-year blip. The school also shows some grade-level variability in English language arts, with 7th graders performing strongly (+8.7 over state) but 6th graders slightly below average. With a free/reduced lunch rate of 46.18% and per-student spending of $12,921, the school operates with moderate resources, yet it is part of the Tawas Area Schools district, which holds a 4-star rating. If the school can apply its evident strengths in literacy-based subjects to its math instruction, it has strong potential to become a top-tier middle school in Michigan.
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