Schools in Zip Code 49749

Zip code 49749, serving the Indian River, Michigan area, is home to three schools—Inland Lakes Elementary School (grades K-5), Inland Lakes Secondary School (grades 6-12), and COP Education Service District Programs (an alternative PK-12 program)—which together serve roughly 729 students across two districts: Inland Lakes Schools and Cheb-Otsego-Presque Isle Education Service District.

For parents, the standout story is Inland Lakes Secondary School, which excels at keeping students on track to graduate. Its graduation rate of 88.8% tops the state average of 84.0%, and its dropout rate of 3.7% is less than half the state's 7.1%. The school is also improving its overall state ranking, climbing from the 25th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 38th percentile in 2025-2026. Meanwhile, Inland Lakes Elementary School shows a notable strength in 5th grade science, where 48.9% of students are proficient versus 40% statewide. The alternative COP Education Service District Programs offers an intensely individualized setting with a 2.4:1 student-teacher ratio, but it serves a very high-need population—95.4% of its students qualify for free/reduced lunch, and its chronic absenteeism rate is 53%.

Across the district, poverty is a significant factor, with free/reduced lunch rates ranging from 63.5% at the secondary school to 71.2% at the elementary school. Math proficiency is a systemic weak point, with scores running 10-15 percentage points below state averages at nearly every grade level—for example, only 13.6% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT math versus 26.5% statewide. However, there are bright spots: 8th graders actually beat the state average in PSAT ELA (66% vs. 64.8%), and the secondary school's chronic absenteeism rate of 15.5% is impressively low. Test scores can swing dramatically year to year, likely due to small class sizes, so parents should look at multi-year trends rather than any single year's results when evaluating these schools.