Summary:
Zip code 49057 is home to a single elementary school, Redwood Elementary, which serves grades K-5 within the Hartford Public Schools district, a small, rural area in southwestern Michigan.
For parents considering Redwood Elementary, the most important takeaway is that the school faces significant academic challenges, but there are also signs of positive momentum. The school enrolls 516 students and has a student-teacher ratio of 15.6:1, with per-student spending of $14,680. Nearly 89% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high level of economic need. Academically, proficiency rates on the M-Step are well below state averages in every subject and grade. For example, only 19.2% of 3rd graders are proficient in ELA compared to the state average of 38.2%, and 3rd-grade math proficiency is 20.8% versus 42.9% statewide. The widest gaps appear in the early grades, suggesting a critical need for early intervention. The school’s overall state ranking places it in the bottom quartile of Michigan elementary schools.
However, there are encouraging trends. From the 2024-2025 to the 2025-2026 school year, proficiency improved in most subjects, with particularly strong gains in 3rd-grade math (+11.2 points) and 5th-grade science (+11.3 points). ELA scores also rose across all grades. One notable exception is 5th-grade social studies, which dropped by 5.7 points. Additionally, chronic absenteeism at Redwood Elementary is 25.9%, which is actually better than both the district average (33.7%) and the state average (27.9%)—a positive sign for student engagement. While the school’s high spending has not yet translated into top test scores, the combination of improving academics and better-than-average attendance suggests that recent efforts may be starting to pay off, even as the school works to close a substantial achievement gap.
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