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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Central School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
409
Elementary
DISTRICT 420 · STATE 369
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·OWOSSO PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 262721006329
Central School
600 W OLIVER ST, OWOSSO, MI 48867 · (989) 723-2790 · Shiawassee County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY32-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL409 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.8:1 · STATE 15.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
37%
153 students
DISTRICT 54% · STATE 55%
Community
2
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Central School→Owosso Middle School
Based on grade levels within Owosso Public Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
36.9%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
38.1%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 37 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 38 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
36.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
49.7%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 36% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 50% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
409
+9 (+2%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
was 20.5:1
% White
87%
was 92%
% Hispanic
6%
was 4%
% Black
1%
was 0%
% Asian
1%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Central School
Central School is an average-sized elementary school in OWOSSO, Michigan, run under Owosso Public Schools. The school hosts 409 students in grades K through 5.
Central School is one of 6 schools operated by Owosso Public Schools, a district that instructs 2,838 students overall.
On demographics, Central School reports that 87% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority; the rest consists of 6% Hispanic, 6% multiracial.
On the resource side, Central School lists 24 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.9:1. The state averages around 15.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. About 37% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Shiawassee County (around 45%), the school's rate is south of typical.
On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), On a poverty-adjusted basis, Central School sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 49.7%; actual is 36.5%, a gap of -13.3 points.
Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Shiawassee County) shows that median household earnings sit near $67,404, 20% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Central School is one of 31 public schools in Shiawassee County (combined enrollment of about 10,105 students).
Nearest neighbor: Emerson School, around 0.7 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Central School comes 2nd of 6 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 31.3%.
The school occupies a town-based site.
Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Central School has showed little movement, going from 400 students in 2018 to 409 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 92% to 87%. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 20.5:1 in 2018 to 16.9:1 today.
In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.
Shiawassee County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
67,991
Census ACS
Median income
$67,404
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
20%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
31
10,105 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Owosso Public Schools
- Owosso High SchoolHigh · 805 students
- Owosso Middle SchoolMiddle · 641 students
- Bryant SchoolElementary · 431 students
- Emerson SchoolElementary · 421 students
- Lincoln Alternative High SchoolHigh · 131 students
Other schools in OWOSSO
- Owosso High SchoolHigh · 805 students
- Owosso Middle SchoolMiddle · 641 students
- Bryant SchoolElementary · 431 students
- Emerson SchoolElementary · 421 students
- Shiawassee RESD Student Learning Center WestCombined · 159 students
- Lincoln Alternative High SchoolHigh · 131 students
Nearby schools
- Emerson School0.7 mi · 421
- Bryant School1.2 mi · 431
- Owosso Middle School1.2 mi · 641
- Owosso High School1.2 mi · 805
- Lincoln Alternative High School1.4 mi · 131
- Shiawassee RESD Student Learning Center West2.8 mi · 159
Frequently asked questions
About Central SchoolHow large is Central School?
Central School enrolls approximately 409 students in grades KG-05.
Is Central School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Central School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Central School have?
Central School employs 24 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Central School?
Student demographics at Central School are roughly 87% White, 6% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Central School in?
Central School is part of Owosso Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.