1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Cardinal Elementary right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
English Language Arts
22.7%
State avg 47.7%
District avg 22.7%
County avg 37.8%
District avg 22.7%
County avg 37.8%
Test scores
See how it ranks: all Michigan schools by score · Muskegon County schools by score
M-STEP, SY 2024-25
All grades, all students. % Advanced + Proficient.Mathematics
23.2%
State avg 44.8%
District avg 19.9%
County avg 33.6%
District avg 19.9%
County avg 33.6%
Science
21.4%
State avg 47.5%
District avg 24.2%
County avg 38.2%
District avg 24.2%
County avg 38.2%
Social Studies
N/A
State avg 47.7%
District avg 26.9%
County avg 39.6%
District avg 26.9%
County avg 39.6%
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, about 23 of 100 do math at grade level, and about 21 of 100 are at grade level in science. Across all Michigan schools, those numbers are about 48, 45, and 47.
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 →
By grade, SY 2024-25
School score vs state average per tested grade.| Grade | English Language Arts | Mathematics | Science | Social Studies | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | |
| Grade 3 | 18.6% | 45.7% | 150 | 23.2% | 51.3% | 151 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Grade 4 | 24.1% | 48.1% | 141 | N/A | 49.1% | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Grade 5 | 25.8% | 51.2% | 136 | N/A | 41.8% | N/A | 21.4% | 46.6% | 136 | N/A | 39.5% | N/A |
1-year history
All grades, all students. Cardinal Michigan avgEnglish Language Arts
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 22.7% | 22.7% | 37.8% | 47.7% |
Mathematics
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 23.2% | 19.9% | 33.6% | 44.8% |
Science
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 21.4% | 24.2% | 38.2% | 47.5% |
Recent discussions
From the Cardinal Elementary community.How to read these scores
What is M-STEP?
Michigan public-school students in grades 3 through 8 take the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) each spring in English Language Arts and Math. Science is added at grades 5, 8, and 11; Social Studies at grades 5, 8, and 11. High school students take the SAT and PSAT as part of the state assessment system.
What does "% Advanced + Proficient" mean?
It is the percentage of students at the school whose scores were "Proficient" or "Advanced" on M-STEP — the top 2 of 4 performance levels (Not Proficient, Partially Proficient, Proficient, Advanced). Proficient and above is Michigan's grade-level benchmark. A higher number is better.
What does 22.7% mean for English Language Arts at Cardinal Elementary?
It means about 22.7 percent of students tested at Cardinal Elementary performed at grade level or above on the M-STEP English Language Arts test in 2024-25. The statewide average for Michigan that year was 47.7%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.
How is the state average calculated?
It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Michigan, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.
Where does this data come from?
Michigan Department of Education / Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI), Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP), via the MI School Data "Request School Data File" portal (mischooldata.org). School-level All Students subgroup. Headline metric is the cumulative "Advanced + Proficient" rate (top 2 of 4 M-STEP levels: Advanced, Proficient, Partially Proficient, Not Proficient).
How often is it updated?
M-STEP is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.