Arcadia Elementary School

As an average-sized K-5 school in KALAMAZOO, Michigan, Arcadia Elementary School caters to 355 students from grades pre-K through 5, one of the schools within Kalamazoo Public Schools.

Kalamazoo Public Schools runs 26 schools in total, collectively educating 12,227 students. Arcadia Elementary School is one of those campuses.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Arcadia Elementary School lists that the most-represented group is Black (43%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school records 33% White, 16% multiracial, 5% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 11% Black, putting the school's mix visibly more Black than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.8:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 15.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 79% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Kalamazoo County (around 45%), the school's rate is noticeably above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Arcadia Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 31.1% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 29.2%.

In the surrounding community, Kalamazoo County reports that median household income runs about $72,532, 41% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Arcadia Elementary School is one of 93 public schools in Kalamazoo County (combined enrollment of about 34,151 students).

Linden Grove Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Arcadia Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Arcadia Elementary School at 4th of 6; the average score across the group is 38.7%.

The campus sits in a city-core setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 9%: 390 students in 2018 compared to 355 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share ticked up from 31% to 43%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 19.9:1 in 2018 to 14.8:1 today.

Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.