Summary:
Zip code 48823, home to East Lansing, Michigan, contains just one middle school, MacDonald Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and is part of the highly-rated East Lansing School District.
For parents, MacDonald Middle School is a consistently strong performer, earning a 4-star rating for three consecutive years and ranking in the top quarter of Michigan middle schools. The school outperforms state averages in nearly every subject and grade level. Its greatest academic strengths are in English Language Arts and Social Studies, with 8th grade Social Studies proficiency at 62.7% and 8th grade PSAT ELA at 74.4%—both well above state benchmarks. The school has also shown impressive recent gains in math, with 7th grade proficiency jumping 7.5 points to 43.3% in one year. However, a notable challenge is the significant gap between ELA and math achievement, particularly in 8th grade where the difference is a striking 37 percentage points. Additionally, while the school excels academically, its chronic absenteeism rate of 30.8% is higher than both the district and state averages, which is worth monitoring. The only subject that saw a decline was 8th grade science, dropping nearly 6 points, which may be an area for parents to ask about.
With a student-teacher ratio of 19.5:1 and per-student spending of $12,626, the school is reasonably resourced. About 37% of students receive free or reduced lunch, reflecting a moderately diverse socioeconomic mix, yet the school still achieves above-average results across the board. Since MacDonald Middle School is the only middle school in the district, its scores mirror the district's exactly. Overall, this is a solid, above-average school with clear strengths in literacy and social studies, positive momentum in math, and a few areas—like science and absenteeism—that families may want to explore further.
Thank you for your feedback!