Best Public Schools in Zip Code 49837

ZIP code 49837 is served by the four schools of the Gladstone Area Schools district in Gladstone, Michigan, which together educate roughly 1,494 students across kindergarten through 12th grade in a relatively low-poverty community.

For parents, the standout is Gladstone Area High School, which posts an 89.1% graduation rate (state: 84%), a dropout rate of just 2.9% (state: 7.1%), and chronic absenteeism of 12.8% versus the state’s 27.9%. Its SAT reading/writing proficiency (62.3%) beats the state by 10 points, though math (31.6%) is a weaker spot. The high school’s ranking jumped from 169th to 83rd in Michigan between 2023-24 and 2024-25, though projections for 2025-26 fall back to 197th, suggesting volatility. Gladstone Area Middle School excels in 8th-grade science (54.2% proficient vs. 39.2% statewide) and 6th-grade math (38.9% vs. 31.9%), but its chronic absenteeism spikes to 20.3%—nearly triple the rate at Cameron Elementary School (7.3%), which serves K-2 and has the district’s lowest absenteeism despite the highest per-student spending ($15,127). James T Jones Elementary School (grades 3-5) hovers near state averages in math and science but lags in ELA across all grades.

The district’s biggest weakness is English Language Arts, with proficiency running 3-8 points below state averages in elementary and middle school. Test scores also swing dramatically year to year—high school science fell from 53.8% to 27.2% proficiency in one year—so parents should weigh multi-year trends over single snapshots. Spending decreases as students age (from $15,127 per student at Cameron to $11,794 at the middle school), and the middle school’s higher absenteeism is a notable red flag. Overall, this district outperforms state averages in most metrics, with the high school’s college-readiness and the middle school’s science program being particular strengths.