MacDonald Middle School

Located at 1601 BURCHAM DR, in EAST LANSING, Michigan, MacDonald Middle School is a heavily attended junior high that teaches 857 students (grades 6 through 8), operated by East Lansing School District. By comparison, Michigan's public schools average about 502 students each, so MacDonald Middle School sits 71% above that benchmark.

Across the 8 schools in East Lansing School District (3,702 students total), MacDonald Middle School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

In terms of who attends, MacDonald Middle School lists that 53% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school lists 18% Black, 13% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, 4% Asian. By comparison, Ingham County as a whole is about 69% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, The school lists 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 19.5:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.5:1 average. An estimated 37% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Ingham County runs at roughly 49%, so the school's eligibility rate is below the surrounding baseline.

After controlling for student poverty, MacDonald Middle School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 49.8%, the actual is 45.5%, a residual of -4.3 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Ingham County indicate median household earnings sit near $65,526, 41% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. MacDonald Middle School is one of 100 public schools in Ingham County (combined enrollment of about 37,914 students).

The closest other public school is Marble School, roughly 0.2 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts MacDonald Middle School at 4th of 5; the average score across the group is 50.8%.

MacDonald Middle School operates from a downtown location.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at MacDonald Middle School has remained close to its prior level, going from 842 students in 2018 to 857 in 2025. The White share of enrollment decreased from 58% to 53% over that span.

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