Summary:
Zip code 49030 is home to just one high school, Burr Oak High School, a very small rural school serving 85 students in grades 9-12 within the Burr Oak Community School District.
For parents considering this area, the most important takeaway is that Burr Oak High School is a high-poverty institution facing significant challenges, yet it shows some relative strengths. The school has a 78.5% graduation rate, which is dramatically higher than the district's overall rate of 52.3%, suggesting the high school is more successful at retaining students through graduation than the district's other schools. However, academic proficiency is a major concern. Only 23.3% of 10th graders are proficient in English Language Arts, and 11th-grade proficiency in social studies (23.08%) and science (20%) are roughly half the state averages. The school also struggles with a 35.6% chronic absenteeism rate, well above the state's 27.9%, which likely contributes to lower test scores. With 75.29% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, poverty is a pervasive factor.
One of the most striking findings is the severe "9th grade dip" in ELA proficiency, dropping from 50% in 9th grade to just 23.3% in 10th grade—a 27-point decline that warrants immediate intervention. Additionally, the student-teacher ratio of 25.9:1 is surprisingly high for a school this size, implying a very small teaching staff that may limit course offerings and individualized attention. Despite spending a substantial $15,293 per student, the financial investment is not translating into strong academic outcomes, likely because the school must address the compounding effects of high poverty and absenteeism. Burr Oak High School is a school at a crossroads: it graduates students at a rate better than its own district, but it must tackle attendance issues and provide targeted academic support, especially for students transitioning from 9th to 10th grade, to improve overall performance.
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