1
What tradition at Oakley W Best Middle School should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
557
Middle
DISTRICT 397 · STATE 502
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DEARBORN HEIGHTS SCHOOL DISTRICT #7·NCES 261161004616
Oakley W Best Middle School
22201 POWERS AVE, DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI 48125 · (313) 203-3200 · Wayne County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL557 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 12% of Michigan public middle schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats 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
15.2:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.8:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
77%
428 students
DISTRICT 76% · 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 | 176 | 32% |
| Grade 7 | 178 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 203 | 36% |
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · 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
Students here typically continue to
Oakley W Best Middle School→Annapolis High School
Based on grade levels within Dearborn Heights School District #7. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientMath
15.5%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 16 of every 100 students at this school do math at grade level. The Michigan average is about 45 of 100.
Source: M-STEP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
25.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
32.3%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 25% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% typical for Michigan schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Michigan's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Oakley W Best Middle School
Oakley W Best Middle School's state test result (25.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oakley W Best Middle School this school | 557 | 76.8% | 25.3% |
| Robert J West Middle School TAYLOR | 641 | 76.4% | 33.5% |
| Armstrong Middle School FLINT | 656 | 75.9% | 31.1% |
| Leota Fiedler Elementary School FLINT | 431 | 81.7% | 30.5% |
| Orchard View Middle School MUSKEGON | 422 | 69.2% | 23.5% |
| Holland Woods Middle School PORT HURON | 404 | 78.7% | 42.9% |
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 Oakley W Best Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan | In Wayne County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 25.3% | #379 of 397 | #42 of 47 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.5% | #375 of 380 | #41 of 42 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 557 | #210 of 491 | #37 of 68 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #64 of 436 | #13 of 62 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 57.8% | #86 of 437 | #15 of 62 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 76.8% | #68 of 477 | #23 of 66 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.6% | #300 of 339 | #43 of 55 |
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
557
-23 (-4%) vs 2020
+10% since 1990-91, when it was 506
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 18.1:1
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 | 557 | 36.7 | 15.2:1 | 77% (428) |
| 2023-24 | 574 | 38.6 | 14.9:1 | 83% (474) |
| 2022-23 | 586 | 30.5 | 19.2:1 | 82% (478) |
| 2020-21 | 580 | 32 | 18.1:1 | 79% (459) |
| 2017-18 | 578 | 29.8 | 19.4:1 | 74% (426) |
| 2015-16 | 620 | 28 | 22.1:1 | 74% (457) |
| 2010-11 | 789 | 32 | 24.7:1 | 72% (568) |
| 2000-01 | 595 | 28 | 21.3:1 | 31% (185) |
| 1990-91 | 506 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Oakley W Best Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 4% (578 to 557); teachers up 23% (29.8 to 36.7).
About Oakley W Best Middle School
Oakley W Best Middle School is a mid-sized middle school. Its address is in DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Michigan. It reported 557 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25.
Dearborn Heights School District #7 has 6 schools and 2,381 students, and Oakley W Best Middle School is one of those schools.
The student body at Oakley W Best Middle School is 59% White. It is also 24% Black, 12% Hispanic, and 4% multiracial. Wayne County's residents are about 49% White, 10 points below the school's share. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 58, compared with 70 nationally.
The school has 36.7 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 15.2 students per teacher. Statewide, middle schools in Michigan average 17.5:1. Of all students at Oakley W Best Middle School, 77% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Wayne County average 66%.
On the allk12 Grade, Oakley W Best Middle School lands at D, ahead of 12% of Michigan public middle schools.
On BeatsExpectations, Oakley W Best Middle School is 7.0 points below its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Michigan schools.
The school's county is Wayne County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $60,539 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 28% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 16%. Oakley W Best Middle School shares Wayne County with 572 other public schools.
Pardee School is the nearest public school to Oakley W Best Middle School, about 0.3 miles away. Within five miles of Oakley W Best Middle School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Its average proficiency rate of 25.3% is below the 35.4% average for nearby schools.
Locale: Suburb: Large. In NCES terms, the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Oakley W Best Middle School had a net loss of 23 students, or 4%. The number of students per teacher dropped from 18.1 to 15.2 over 4 years.
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Wayne County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,772,259
Census ACS
Median income
$60,539
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
28%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
573
259,786 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Dearborn Heights School District #7
- Annapolis High SchoolHigh · 682 students
- Bedford SchoolElementary · 389 students
- Polk Elementary SchoolElementary · 374 students
- Pardee SchoolElementary · 337 students
- Dearborn Heights Virtual AcademyHigh · 42 students
Other schools in DEARBORN HEIGHTS
- Star International AcademyCombined · 1,728 students
- Crestwood High SchoolHigh · 1,272 students
- Riverside Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,139 students
- Annapolis High SchoolHigh · 682 students
- Thorne Elementary SchoolElementary · 593 students
- Kinloch Elementary SchoolElementary · 557 students
Nearby schools
- Pardee School0.3 mi · 337
- Annapolis High School0.5 mi · 682
- Polk Elementary School0.8 mi · 374
- Dearborn Heights Virtual Academy0.8 mi · 42
- Nowlin Elementary School1.1 mi · 243
- WhitmoreBolles Elementary School1.2 mi · 316
Frequently asked questions
About Oakley W Best Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Oakley W Best Middle School?
Oakley W Best Middle School enrolls approximately 557 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Oakley W Best Middle School serve?
Oakley W Best Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Oakley W Best Middle School?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at Oakley W Best Middle School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Oakley W Best Middle School?
At Oakley W Best Middle School, the student body is approximately 59% White, 12% Hispanic, 24% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Oakley W Best Middle School in?
Oakley W Best Middle School is part of Dearborn Heights School District #7.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.