Summary:
In zip code 48831, there is just one elementary school, EE Knight Elementary School, serving grades 3 through 5 with 296 students in the Elsie, MI area.
EE Knight Elementary School is part of the Ovid-Elsie Area Schools district, and it presents a mixed picture for parents to consider. The school’s biggest strength is attendance: its chronic absenteeism rate is just 11.4%, which is far better than the state average of 27.9%. However, academic proficiency is a concern, especially in the upper grades. In 2025-2026, 5th-grade math proficiency was only 15.8% compared to the state’s 32.2%, and 5th-grade ELA was 22.4% versus the state’s 43.8%. There is also a notable "5th-grade cliff," where proficiency drops sharply from 4th to 5th grade in both subjects. For example, 4th-grade math was 36.8% proficient, but that falls to 15.8% by 5th grade. The school’s state ranking has fluctuated, sitting at the 33rd percentile for 2025-2026, while the district overall ranks in the 63rd percentile, suggesting other schools in the district may be performing better.
Economically, over half of the students (55%) qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a higher level of need. The school spends $13,319 per student and has a student-teacher ratio of 16.7, which points to relatively large class sizes. While 4th-grade ELA showed improvement (from 35.1% to 41.5%), 3rd-grade ELA dropped sharply from 38.3% to 22%. For parents, this school offers a safe, consistently attended environment, but the academic data suggests that targeted support, particularly for 5th graders and in math, may be necessary to help students reach state benchmarks.
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