Highlands School

Highlands School is one of the medium-sized 6-8 campuss in GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, run under Northview Public Schools, with 445 students on its rolls from grades 5 through 6.

Highlands School is one of 8 schools operated by Northview Public Schools, a district that instructs 3,120 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Highlands School lists that 69% of the student body identifies as White. Other groups include 11% multiracial, 10% Hispanic, 8% Black. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

In terms of school funding signals, On paper, Highlands School has 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.7:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 17.5:1, putting Highlands School tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 35% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Kent County runs at roughly 47%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Highlands School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 50.6%; this one delivers 43.8%.

Across the wider county, census data for Kent County shows median household earnings sit near $82,631, roughly 41% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. In all, Kent County runs 239 public schools (combined enrollment of about 97,253 students), of which Highlands School is one.

Northview Next Learning Center is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.8 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Highlands School comes 4th of 5 in the immediate cluster, behind the nearby-schools average of 50.8%.

The campus sits in a residential setting.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Highlands School has ticked down 5%, going from 470 students in 2018 to 445 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share decreased from 76% to 69%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 17.3:1 in 2018 to 15.7:1 today.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. The community welcomes input from current and former families.