Summary:
Zip code 49241 in Hanover, MI, is served by a single school, HanoverHorton Elementary School, which enrolls 462 students in grades PK-5 and is part of the Hanover-Horton School District, a 3-star district ranked in the top 43% of Michigan districts.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that this school shows real strengths in the early grades but struggles to maintain that momentum as students get older. In 3rd grade, students perform well above state averages in both ELA (47.8% vs. 38.2%) and especially math (56.7% vs. 42.9%). However, by 5th grade, math proficiency falls to just 25.0%, which is 7.2 points below the state average. This "5th grade cliff" is the school's most pressing concern. Looking at the same group of students over time makes the issue even clearer: a cohort that was 21.6 points above the state in 3rd-grade math ended up 7.2 points below by 5th grade—a swing of nearly 29 points. The school also saw broad year-over-year declines across nearly every subject and grade from 2024-25 to 2025-26, with 4th-grade ELA dropping 17.2 points and 5th-grade math dropping 11.1 points. The only bright spot academically was 5th-grade social studies, which remains above the state average.
On the positive side, the school excels in attendance, with a chronic absenteeism rate of just 14.8%—nearly half the state's 27.9%—which is a strong foundation for learning. The school also maintains a stable 3-star rating and serves a student body where 37.23% qualify for free/reduced lunch. With a student-teacher ratio of 18.5:1 and per-student spending of $13,209, parents may want to ask how resources are being allocated, especially given the upper-elementary math struggles. Overall, this is a school with solid early foundations and excellent attendance, but the significant proficiency erosion as students advance suggests a need for targeted intervention in upper-elementary math and reading.
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