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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Cardinal Elementary this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
611
Elementary
DISTRICT 471 · STATE 369
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ORCHARD VIEW SCHOOLS·NCES 262676007763
Cardinal Elementary
2310 MARQUETTE AVE, MUSKEGON, MI 49442 · (231) 760-1700 · Muskegon County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL611 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 1% of Michigan public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Michigan public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.8:1 · STATE 15.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
71%
435 students
DISTRICT 69% · STATE 55%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 4 | 1% |
| Grade 2 | 166 | 27% |
| Grade 3 | 156 | 26% |
| Grade 4 | 144 | 24% |
| Grade 5 | 141 | 23% |
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · STATE 56% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
22.7%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
23.2%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 23 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 23 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Michigan schools, those numbers are about 48 and 45.
Source: M-STEP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of MI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
22.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.8%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-12.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 35% typical for Michigan schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Cardinal Elementary
Cardinal Elementary's state test result (22.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Elementary this school | 611 | 71.2% | 22.6% |
| Comstock Elementary School KALAMAZOO | 597 | 74.9% | N/A |
| Brick Elementary School YPSILANTI | 500 | 71.0% | 24.6% |
| HowardEllis Elementary School NILES | 529 | 66.4% | 41.2% |
| Alexander Hamilton Elementary School WESTLAND | 469 | 67.8% | 18.9% |
| RooseveltMcGrath Elem School WAYNE | 454 | 69.4% | 18.7% |
Matched among Michigan elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Cardinal Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan | In Muskegon County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.6% | #1,047 of 1,085 | #17 of 18 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 23.2% | #1,011 of 1,072 | #15 of 18 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 22.7% | #1,087 of 1,139 | #19 of 20 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 611 | #119 of 1,630 | #2 of 32 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #245 of 1,424 | #6 of 25 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 62.4% | #220 of 1,424 | #3 of 25 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 71.2% | #493 of 1,563 | #13 of 30 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -2.7% | #873 of 979 | #17 of 19 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
611
+8 (+1%) vs 2020
-25% since 2010-11, when it was 810
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
was 16.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 611 | 44.2 | 13.8:1 | 71% (435) |
| 2023-24 | 644 | 44.7 | 14.4:1 | 87% (558) |
| 2022-23 | 610 | 40.7 | 15.0:1 | 82% (500) |
| 2020-21 | 603 | 37 | 16.3:1 | 81% (491) |
| 2017-18 | 628 | 37 | 17.0:1 | 79% (499) |
| 2015-16 | 664 | 40 | 16.6:1 | 79% (524) |
| 2010-11 | 810 | 38 | 21.3:1 | 73% (592) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cardinal Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (628 to 611); teachers up 19% (37 to 44.2).
About Cardinal Elementary
Cardinal Elementary is a high-enrollment elementary school in Michigan, with an address in MUSKEGON. Students in kindergarten through 5 attend the school, which enrolls 611 students. The average among elementary schools in Michigan is roughly 369 students; this school is 66% bigger than that.
Cardinal Elementary reports to Orchard View Schools, which has 5 schools and 2,041 students.
Cardinal Elementary is 54% White by enrollment. The rest of enrollment is 27% Black, 9% Hispanic, and 8% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Muskegon County's population at about 77%. The school's diversity index is 62%, meaning two students picked at random have a 62% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The ratio of students to teachers is 13.8:1, with 44.2 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 15.8:1 average for elementary schools in Michigan. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Cardinal Elementary is 71%. The average for public schools in Muskegon County is 59%.
Cardinal Elementary is graded F by allk12, scoring above 1% of Michigan public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
On allk12's BeatsExpectations measure, Cardinal Elementary is among the bottom 10% of schools in Michigan. Predicted: 34.8%. Actual: 22.6%.
Census Bureau estimates for Muskegon County show that the median household income is $65,024, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 21% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 10%. There are 71 public schools in Muskegon County, enrolling about 25,245 students in all.
Orchard View Middle School is the public school closest to Cardinal Elementary, about 0.4 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8.
Cardinal Elementary is coded as Suburb: Mid-size in federal locale data.
There was little change in enrollment from 2020-21 (603) to 2024-25 (611). Federal data show the ratio falling from 16.3:1 to 13.8:1.
Topics for discussion here include school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Muskegon County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
175,961
Census ACS
Median income
$65,024
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
71
25,245 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Orchard View Schools
- Orchard View High SchoolHigh · 543 students
- Orchard View Middle SchoolMiddle · 422 students
- Orchard View Early ElementaryElementary · 331 students
- Orchard View Community EducationHigh · 134 students
Other schools in MUSKEGON
- Mona Shores High SchoolHigh · 1,268 students
- ReethsPuffer High SchoolHigh · 1,107 students
- Muskegon High SchoolHigh · 1,003 students
- Mona Shores Middle SchoolMiddle · 930 students
- Charles Hackley Middle SchoolMiddle · 774 students
- Timberland AcademyElementary · 613 students
Other Cardinal Elementary schools
7 other US public schools in 6 states are named Cardinal Elementary. Cardinal Elementary is the 4th largest of the 8.
- Cardinal ElementaryRichmond, VA · 821 students
- Cardinal ElementaryArlington, VA · 682 students
- Cardinal Elementary SchoolBrownsburg, IN · 650 students
- Cardinal ElementaryEldon, IA · 495 students
- CARDINAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSO SIOUX CITY, NE · 424 students
Nearby schools
- Orchard View Middle School0.4 mi · 422
- Orchard View High School0.6 mi · 543
- Orchard View Early Elementary1.0 mi · 331
- Timberland Academy1.1 mi · 613
- Orchard View Community Education1.2 mi · 134
- Marquette Elementary School1.5 mi · 367
Frequently asked questions
About Cardinal ElementaryHow large is Cardinal Elementary?
Cardinal Elementary enrolls approximately 611 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Cardinal Elementary serve?
Cardinal Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many teachers does Cardinal Elementary have?
Cardinal Elementary employs 44 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.8:1.
What is the student diversity at Cardinal Elementary?
Student demographics at Cardinal Elementary are roughly 54% White, 9% Hispanic, 27% Black, 0% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Cardinal Elementary in?
Cardinal Elementary is part of Orchard View Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.