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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Parma Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
408
Elementary
DISTRICT 396 · STATE 369
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WESTERN SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 263594000558
Parma Elementary School
385 ELIZABETH ST, PARMA, MI 49269 · (517) 841-8670 · Jackson County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL408 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
17.0:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.0:1 · STATE 15.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
62%
251 students
DISTRICT 49% · STATE 55%
Community
4
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 100 | 25% |
| Grade 1 | 52 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 53 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 79 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 72 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 52 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (100) is 92% larger than its 5th grade class (52).
Student demographics
26%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 28% · 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
Parma Elementary School→Western Middle School
Based on grade levels within Western School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
57.9%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
56.8%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of MI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
55.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
39.0%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+16.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 56% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 39% typical for Michigan schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 17 points, placing it in Michigan's top 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 Parma Elementary School
Parma Elementary School's state test result (55.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parma Elementary School this school | 408 | 61.5% | 55.7% |
| Gier Elementary School HILLSDALE | 434 | 63.1% | 27.0% |
| North Ohio Elementary School GAYLORD | 388 | 63.1% | 30.6% |
| South Maple Elementary School GAYLORD | 385 | 63.6% | 34.9% |
| Central School VASSAR | 366 | 63.1% | 38.2% |
| Escanaba Upper Elementary ESCANABA | 426 | 58.9% | 46.2% |
Matched among Michigan elementary 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 Parma Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan | In Jackson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 55.7% | #297 of 1,085 | #1 of 15 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 56.8% | #285 of 1,072 | #1 of 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.9% | #303 of 1,139 | #5 of 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 408 | #619 of 1,630 | #9 of 24 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.0:1 | #963 of 1,424 | #9 of 22 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 25.6% | #926 of 1,424 | #15 of 22 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 61.5% | #672 of 1,563 | #10 of 24 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.0% | #416 of 440 | #8 of 9 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
408
+13 (+3%) vs 2020
+6% since 2000-01, when it was 385
Student : Teacher
17.0:1
was 17.2:1
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 | 408 | 24 | 17.0:1 | 62% (251) |
| 2023-24 | 390 | 23 | 17.0:1 | 61% (236) |
| 2022-23 | 395 | 24 | 16.4:1 | 61% (242) |
| 2020-21 | 395 | 23 | 17.2:1 | 48% (191) |
| 2017-18 | 404 | 23 | 17.6:1 | 54% (219) |
| 2015-16 | 389 | 22 | 17.7:1 | 51% (198) |
| 2010-11 | 412 | 21 | 19.6:1 | 52% (214) |
| 2000-01 | 385 | 24 | 16.0:1 | 23% (88) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Parma Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (404 to 408); teachers up 4% (23 to 24).
About Parma Elementary School
This page covers Parma Elementary School, a medium-sized elementary school in PARMA, Michigan. It serves 408 students in pre-K through 5.
The 6 schools in Western School District enroll 2,688 students altogether, Parma Elementary School among them.
At Parma Elementary School, White students make up 86% of the student body. It is also 8% multiracial and 5% Hispanic. That is close to the 83% White share among all Jackson County residents. By the diversity index, Parma Elementary School comes in at 26%.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 17.0:1, with 24 full-time-equivalent teachers. Among elementary schools in Michigan, the typical ratio is 15.8:1. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Parma Elementary School is 62%. That rate is above the 53% average among public schools in Jackson County.
Parma Elementary School scores 16.7 points above its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests: 55.7% actual versus 39.0% predicted. That puts it in the top 10% of Michigan schools on BeatsExpectations.
Parma Elementary School is located in Jackson County, where median household income is about $66,073, about 23% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 8% of residents are in poverty. Parma Elementary School is one of 68 public schools in Jackson County, which together enroll about 21,681 students.
Western Middle School is the closest public school, about 3.0 miles away in a straight line. Parma Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with 4 others within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 47.5%, lower than Parma Elementary School's 55.7%.
Parma Elementary School is coded as Rural: Fringe in federal locale data.
The number of students grew from 395 to 408 over 4 years.
Posts about school safety, transportation, and start times are welcome on this page. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Jackson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
160,060
Census ACS
Median income
$66,073
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
68
21,681 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Western School District
- Western High SchoolHigh · 809 students
- Western Middle SchoolMiddle · 594 students
- Bean Elementary SchoolElementary · 409 students
- Warner Elementary SchoolElementary · 371 students
- Woodville Community CenterHigh · 97 students
Other schools in PARMA
- Western High SchoolHigh · 809 students
- Western Middle SchoolMiddle · 594 students
Nearby schools
- Western Middle School3.0 mi · 594
- Western High School3.0 mi · 809
- Warner Elementary School4.2 mi · 371
- Bean Elementary School4.4 mi · 409
- Concord High School6.0 mi · 182
- Concord Elementary School6.2 mi · 292
Frequently asked questions
About Parma Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Parma Elementary School?
Parma Elementary School enrolls approximately 408 students in grades PK-05.
Is Parma Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Parma Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Parma Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Parma Elementary School is approximately 17.0:1 (24 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Parma Elementary School?
At Parma Elementary School, the student body is approximately 86% White, 5% Hispanic, 1% Black, 8% Two or more.
What district is Parma Elementary School in?
Parma Elementary School is part of Western School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.