Summary:
Zip code 49329, serving the Howard City area of Michigan, is home to just one middle school, Tri County Middle School, which enrolls 381 students in grades 6 through 8 as part of the Tri County Area Schools district.
For parents considering this school, the most important takeaway is that Tri County Middle School generally performs below state averages across core subjects, though there are bright spots. The school shows a clear strength in 8th grade English Language Arts, where 60.2% of students are proficient on the PSAT, compared to a 64.8% state average. However, math is a persistent challenge, with only 19% of 7th graders proficient—a full 14.3 points behind the state—and 8th grade PSAT math proficiency sits at just 26.8%. Science and social studies also lag significantly, with proficiency rates of 25.8% and 35.0% respectively, versus state averages of 39.2% and 50.3%. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 17.4:1 and spends $13,639 per student annually, which is relatively robust. Chronic absenteeism matches the state average at 27.9%, but is notably higher than the district's 22.5% rate, suggesting this school faces a greater attendance challenge than other buildings in the same district.
Encouragingly, the school showed strong year-over-year improvement in several areas, most notably a 14.3-point jump in 7th grade ELA proficiency (from 20.9% to 35.2%) and a 7.2-point gain in 8th grade PSAT ELA. Math also improved in 6th grade by 5.4 points, though 7th grade math declined by 5.8 points. Despite these gains, the school's overall state ranking slipped from the 42nd to the 34th percentile, indicating that other Michigan schools are improving at a faster pace. With 41.21% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school serves a moderate-income community, and its performance is a direct reflection of the district's middle-level education since it is the only school at these grade levels in Tri County Area Schools.
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