Summary:
The Kalkaska Public Schools district in Michigan is home to two elementary schools: Kalkaska Elementary School and Rapid City Elementary School. While both schools serve students in the same district, they exhibit notable differences in their student populations and academic performance.
Rapid City Elementary School serves a more economically disadvantaged student body, with 92.71% of its students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, compared to 71.75% at Kalkaska Elementary School. However, Rapid City Elementary has a lower chronic absenteeism rate of 24.0%, compared to 32.9% at Kalkaska Elementary. Academically, Kalkaska Elementary outperforms Rapid City Elementary and the district/state averages in several areas, particularly in 3rd grade English Language Arts and Math.
The Kalkaska Public Schools district as a whole is ranked 323 out of 610 districts in Michigan and is rated 2 out of 5 stars by SchoolDigger, indicating below-average performance compared to other districts in the state. Both Kalkaska Elementary School and Rapid City Elementary School have shown little improvement in their statewide rankings over the past 15 years, remaining in the bottom half of Michigan elementary schools. The higher spending per student at Rapid City Elementary School ($18,837) compared to Kalkaska Elementary School ($15,087) does not appear to translate to stronger academic performance, as Kalkaska outperforms Rapid City on most test score metrics.
Thank you for your feedback!