Summary:
Bernice McDowell Elementary School is a public elementary school in Taylor, Michigan, serving 239 students in grades PK-5. The school is part of the Taylor School District, which is ranked 545 out of 610 districts in the state and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.
Bernice McDowell faces significant challenges, including a student population that is 44.35% African American, significantly higher than the surrounding schools, which range from 13.67% to 52.37% African American students. The school also has consistently high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 20.8% to 71.8% over the past few years, much higher than nearby schools. Academically, Bernice McDowell's performance, as measured by M-Step proficiency rates, is consistently lower than the Taylor School District and the state of Michigan averages across all grade levels and subject areas. For example, in 2023-2024, the school's 3rd-grade English Language Arts proficiency rate was 11.6%, compared to the district's 17.9% and the state's 39.6%. The school's student subgroups, such as female students, male students, African American students, and students with special education needs, all perform significantly worse than their peers in the state, ranking in the bottom 25% of Michigan elementary schools.
While Bernice McDowell is part of the Taylor School District, the nearby schools in the district, such as Clarence Randall Elementary School, Eureka Heights Elementary School, Holland Elementary School, and Blair Moody Elementary School, generally perform better academically and have lower chronic absenteeism rates, suggesting that Bernice McDowell may be an outlier within the district. Additionally, the school's high per-student spending of around $20,000 does not seem to translate into improved academic outcomes, and its performance has remained consistently low over the past several years, with little to no improvement in its statewide ranking or academic proficiency rates.
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Detail:
Public PK, KG-5
District:
Taylor School District
SchoolDigger Rank:
1358th of 1,486 Michigan Elementary Schools
Per Pupil Expenditures: $20,308
Students who attend Bernice McDowell Elementary School usually attend:
Student/teacher ratio: 17.6
Number of students: 239
Racial breakdown:
African American:
44.4%
White:
35.6%
Hispanic:
8.8%
more
Asian:
5.4%
Two or more races:
5.4%
American Indian:
0.4%
Free/discounted lunch recipients: 87%
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