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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Kenowa Hills Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
634
Middle
DISTRICT 486 · STATE 502
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·KENOWA HILLS PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 262028005706
Kenowa Hills Middle School
3950 HENDERSHOT AVE NW, GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49544 · (616) 785-3225 · Kent County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL634 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 16% of Michigan public middle schools
- CTest 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
17.2:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
40%
251 students
DISTRICT 46% · STATE 55%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 227 | 36% |
| Grade 7 | 203 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 204 | 32% |
Student demographics
52%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 48% · 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
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Kenowa Hills Public Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
34.1%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
32.8%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 34 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 33 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
35.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.7%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 49% 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 Kenowa Hills Middle School
Kenowa Hills Middle School's state test result (35.1% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenowa Hills Middle School this school | 634 | 39.6% | 35.1% |
| Christa McAuliffe Middle School BAY CITY | 608 | 45.6% | 34.6% |
| Sparta Middle School SPARTA | 503 | 40.4% | 43.0% |
| Holt Junior High School HOLT | 713 | 42.2% | 35.8% |
| Grandville Middle School GRANDVILLE | 850 | 30.7% | 51.5% |
| Crossroads Middle School GRAND RAPIDS | 472 | 33.5% | 52.9% |
Matched among Michigan middle 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 Kenowa Hills Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan | In Kent County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 35.1% | #285 of 397 | #22 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.8% | #216 of 380 | #20 of 26 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.1% | #288 of 377 | #22 of 24 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 634 | #146 of 491 | #13 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.2:1 | #193 of 436 | #13 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.3% | #109 of 437 | #12 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 39.6% | #287 of 477 | #18 of 36 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.6% | #189 of 339 | #11 of 22 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
634
-67 (-10%) vs 2020
+13% since 1990-91, when it was 563
Student : Teacher
17.2:1
was 20.0:1
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 | 634 | 36.9 | 17.2:1 | 40% (251) |
| 2023-24 | 602 | 38 | 15.8:1 | 49% (297) |
| 2022-23 | 623 | 36.4 | 17.1:1 | 54% (335) |
| 2020-21 | 701 | 35 | 20.0:1 | 56% (396) |
| 2017-18 | 717 | 36.7 | 19.6:1 | 48% (342) |
| 2015-16 | 742 | 36 | 20.6:1 | 48% (357) |
| 2010-11 | 760 | 40 | 19.0:1 | 46% (350) |
| 2000-01 | 520 | 28 | 18.6:1 | 20% (104) |
| 1990-91 | 563 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Kenowa Hills Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (717 to 634); teachers up 1% (36.7 to 36.9).
About Kenowa Hills Middle School
Kenowa Hills Middle School is a mid-sized middle school in GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan, under Kenowa Hills Public Schools. The school offers grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 634 students. The school is 26% larger than the average for middle schools in Michigan.
Kenowa Hills Middle School belongs to Kenowa Hills Public Schools, a district of 6 schools and 2,913 students.
The largest group at Kenowa Hills Middle School is White students, at 65%. The remaining students are 20% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, and 5% Black. The diversity index for Kenowa Hills Middle School is 52%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Teacher count: 36.9 full-time equivalents. Student-to-teacher ratio: 17.2:1. The 17.5:1 average for middle schools in Michigan is close to this figure. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 40%.
Kenowa Hills Middle School earns a C- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 16% of Michigan public middle schools.
In Michigan, Kenowa Hills Middle School is one of the bottom 10% of schools on BeatsExpectations, with an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 35.1% compared with a predicted 48.7%.
In Kent County, home to about 663,150 people, median household income comes to about $82,631, 41% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of people live in poverty. There are 239 public schools in the county, enrolling about 97,253, Kenowa Hills Middle School among them.
Kenowa Hills Pathways High School sits about 0.3 miles from Kenowa Hills Middle School. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Kenowa Hills Middle School places 6th of 7 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
NCES describes the area around Kenowa Hills Middle School as Rural: Fringe, meaning in rural territory close to an urban area.
A 10% drop took enrollment from 701 in 2020-21 to 634 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 20.0:1 to 17.2:1.
People who know Kenowa Hills Middle School can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Kent County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
663,150
Census ACS
Median income
$82,631
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
239
97,253 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Kenowa Hills Public Schools
- Kenowa Hills High SchoolHigh · 876 students
- Kenowa Hills Central Elementary SchoolElementary · 538 students
- Zinser Elementary SchoolElementary · 443 students
- Alpine Elementary SchoolElementary · 323 students
- Kenowa Hills Pathways High SchoolHigh · 99 students
Other schools in GRAND RAPIDS
- East Kentwood High SchoolHigh · 2,068 students
- Northern High SchoolHigh · 1,088 students
- PrepNet Virtual AcademyCombined · 1,080 students
- Northview High SchoolHigh · 1,078 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 999 students
- City High Middle SchoolHigh · 955 students
Nearby schools
- Kenowa Hills Pathways High School0.3 mi · 99
- Kenowa Hills High School0.3 mi · 876
- Alpine Elementary School1.8 mi · 323
- Kenowa Hills Central Elementary School2.0 mi · 538
- Walker Charter Academy2.2 mi · 711
- Blandford School2.8 mi · 60
Frequently asked questions
About Kenowa Hills Middle SchoolHow large is Kenowa Hills Middle School?
Kenowa Hills Middle School enrolls approximately 634 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Kenowa Hills Middle School serve?
Kenowa Hills Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Kenowa Hills Middle School have?
Kenowa Hills Middle School employs 37 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.2:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Kenowa Hills Middle School?
At Kenowa Hills Middle School, the student body is approximately 65% White, 20% Hispanic, 5% Black, 1% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Who oversees Kenowa Hills Middle School?
Kenowa Hills Middle School is overseen by Kenowa Hills Public Schools in Kent County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.