Summary:
Zip code 49048 is home to just one middle school, Comstock Middle School, which serves grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 276 students within the Comstock Public Schools district.
For parents considering this area, the most important takeaway is that Comstock Middle School is facing serious academic challenges, and its performance has been declining. The school’s state ranking has fallen from the 19th percentile to the 8th percentile over recent years, placing it in the bottom 10% of Michigan middle schools. Test scores are well below state averages across nearly every subject and grade level. For example, only 6.4% of 7th graders were proficient in math on the M-Step, compared to the state average of 33.3%, and just 9.9% of 8th graders were proficient in PSAT math versus 33.2% statewide. Reading scores are somewhat better, with 47.9% of 8th graders proficient in PSAT English Language Arts, though that still trails the state’s 64.8%.
A major red flag is chronic absenteeism: 53.2% of students are chronically absent, meaning more than half miss significant instructional time. This rate is nearly double the state average of 27.9% and likely a primary driver of low achievement. The school also serves a predominantly low-income population, with 66.3% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. Interestingly, the school spends a very high $28,682 per student, yet this investment has not translated into better outcomes, suggesting that financial resources alone are not addressing the core issues. While 8th-grade reading shows a relative strength, the overall picture is one of a school in need of urgent intervention, particularly in math, where proficiency rates in the single digits indicate a systemic problem.
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