Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School

Set in CHESTERFIELD, Michigan, Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School is a well-populated elementary campus, overseen by L'Anse Creuse Public Schools. It educates 656 students across grades K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 78% above the state mean of about 369.

Across the 17 schools in L'Anse Creuse Public Schools (9,090 students total), Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School reports that White students make up the majority at 70%. The remainder looks like 14% Black, 10% multiracial, 4% Hispanic.

On the resource side, Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School lists 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 19.0:1. The state averages around 15.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 41% of students at Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Macomb County runs at roughly 52%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat below the surrounding baseline.

With demographic context factored in, Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School is in the bottom 10% of Michigan public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 48.0%; Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School posts 36.0%, -12.1 points below that line.

Around the school, ACS estimates for Macomb County put median household earnings sit near $77,837, about 28% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School is one of 236 public schools in Macomb County (combined enrollment of about 115,743 students).

Francis A Higgins Elem School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.4 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School. On composite proficiency, Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School comes 8th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 45.0%.

The school occupies a bedroom-community site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Joseph M Carkenord Elementary School's enrollment has declined 6% since 2018, when it stood at 698 (now 656). Class-load math has fell: from 22.6:1 in 2018 to 19.0:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.