Summary:
Schools in zip code 49057, serving the Hartford, Michigan area, include four schools within the Hartford Public Schools district: Redwood Elementary (K-5), Hartford Middle School (6-8), Hartford High School (9-12), and Hartford Alternative Education (6-12). This is a high-poverty area, with free/reduced lunch rates ranging from about 71% to 89% across the schools, and the district overall ranks in the 17th percentile statewide.
No school here is a top performer by state standards, but Hartford High School stands out for its exceptional graduation rate of 93.7%, far above the district's 78.1% and the state's 84.0%, with a dropout rate of just 2.0%. This is a bright spot despite low test scores. In contrast, Hartford Alternative Education faces severe challenges: a 45.6% graduation rate, a 30.4% dropout rate, and a staggering 88.6% chronic absenteeism rate, while spending the least per student at $6,421. Among the traditional schools, Hartford Middle School has the highest student-teacher ratio (21.4) and the highest chronic absenteeism (33.0%), while Redwood Elementary has the lowest ratio (15.6) and spends the most per student ($14,680).
Academically, proficiency is below state averages everywhere, with math being a universal weakness—for example, only 12.2% of 11th graders were proficient in SAT Math versus 26.5% statewide. A sharp decline occurs at the middle school transition: 5th-grade math proficiency at Redwood is 28.6%, but 6th-grade math at Hartford Middle drops to 11.8%. Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide issue, with all schools except the high school exceeding the state average of 27.9%. The high school's success in graduating students despite low test scores suggests a focus on credit recovery and support, offering a potential model for other schools in this challenging environment.
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