Summary:
Zip code 49847 is served by a single elementary school, North Central Elementary School, a small rural school in Hermansville, MI, that enrolls 123 students in grades PK-5 and is part of the North Central Area Schools district.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that this school offers a very personalized learning environment with a strong student-teacher ratio of 12.4:1 and high per-student spending of $17,246. Attendance is a clear positive, with a chronic absenteeism rate of just 11.7%—far better than the state average of 27.9%. However, academic results are mixed. The school shows a notable strength in early-grade math, where 3rd and 4th graders in 2024-2025 outperformed the state average (55.6% vs. 42.7% and 51.7% vs. 39.4%, respectively). This strength disappears by 5th grade, where math proficiency drops to just 15%, well below the state's 32.9%. English Language Arts is a consistent weakness across all grades, with 5th-grade proficiency at only 15.79% compared to the state's 44.4% in the same year. Science scores are also below average, while social studies performance is essentially at the state level.
The most striking pattern is a "5th grade cliff," where performance drops sharply from 4th to 5th grade in both math and ELA, possibly indicating a challenging curriculum transition or a small cohort effect. Given that each grade likely has fewer than 20 students, year-to-year swings can be dramatic and may not reflect the school's overall quality. The district itself is ranked 253rd out of 625 in Michigan (60th percentile, 3-star rating), while the school's own state ranking has slipped slightly from the 45th to 41st percentile over three years. With about half the students eligible for free/reduced lunch, the school serves a economically diverse population, and its excellent attendance record suggests strong student engagement despite the academic challenges in upper grades.
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