Summary:
Zip code 49801, serving the Iron Mountain area in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, contains five schools within the Iron Mountain Public Schools district, enrolling roughly 813 students across elementary, middle, high, and alternative education settings.
For families, the standout story is Iron Mountain High School, which made a dramatic one-year leap from a 1-star to a 3-star rating, with SAT reading proficiency jumping from 37.7% to 55.8% and math nearly tripling to 30.2%. Its 95.2% graduation rate far exceeds the state average of 84%. At the elementary level, North Elementary School is the district’s academic leader, earning a 4-star rating with 3rd-grade math proficiency at 58.8%—well above the state’s 42.9%. In contrast, East Elementary School shows a troubling 5th-grade math crisis at just 14.7% proficiency, less than half the state average, representing a sharp drop from the 43.5% these students likely achieved in 4th grade. Central Middle School offers a bright spot in literacy, with 8th graders hitting 64.3% on PSAT English, nearly matching the state, though its math scores lag in the mid-20s.
The district’s biggest challenge is IMK Community Education, an alternative school serving a highly at-risk population (82% free/reduced lunch) with a 29.1% graduation rate and 22.9% dropout rate—figures that drag the district’s overall graduation rate to 66.6% despite the high school’s success. Chronic absenteeism remains a concern district-wide, though traditional schools stay below the state average. Notably, higher per-student spending at North Elementary ($14,557) and Iron Mountain High ($14,057) aligns with stronger outcomes, while Central Middle spends the least ($9,488) yet outperforms East Elementary on several measures. Despite pervasive poverty (52-82% free/reduced lunch), these schools prove that strong results are achievable, though the 5th-grade math decline and alternative school struggles demand targeted attention.
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