Summary:
Zip code 49849 is home to just one middle school, Ishpeming Middle School, which serves grades 5 through 8 with 185 students in the Ishpeming Public School District No. 1, an area where 45.4% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
For parents considering this school, the most important takeaway is a stark split between subjects. In 8th grade, ELA proficiency on the PSAT reached 60.9%, nearly matching the state average of 64.8%, showing the school can teach literacy effectively. However, math is a serious concern: only 10.9% of 8th graders were proficient in math, compared to 33.2% statewide—a gap of more than 22 points. This math weakness is not isolated; 6th and 7th grade math proficiency also lagged by roughly 19 points each. The school has also slipped in state rankings over two years, dropping from the 54th percentile to the 32nd percentile. Compounding the issue, 5th and 6th grade ELA scores fell dramatically year-over-year (by 13.5 and 19.1 points, respectively), suggesting recent cohorts may be struggling more than previous ones.
On a more positive note, science performance is a relative bright spot—5th grade science (39.5%) nearly matched the state average (40.0%), and 8th grade science was above the state average the prior year. Chronic absenteeism (23.3%) is better than the state average (27.9%), and per-student spending is moderate at $13,804 with an 18.7:1 student-teacher ratio. Given these resources and attendance levels, the severe math deficiency and recent ELA declines point more toward instructional alignment and curriculum issues than a lack of funding. Parents should ask the school specifically about its math intervention strategies and how it plans to reverse the downward trend in lower-grade reading scores.
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