Patrick Hamilton Elementary

Patrick Hamilton Elementary is a close-knit elementary-level community in DOWAGIAC, Michigan, one of the schools within Dowagiac Union School District. The school caters to 224 students in grades K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 39% smaller than the state mean of about 369.

Within Dowagiac Union School District, which oversees 7 schools and 1,815 students, Patrick Hamilton Elementary is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Patrick Hamilton Elementary lists that the most-represented group is White (52%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Other groups include 18% Black, 17% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 4% Native American. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 85%.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 15.4:1. That tracks the state average closely. Around 83% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Cass County (around 54%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, Patrick Hamilton Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 29.5%, the actual is 27.0%, a residual of -2.5 points.

In the surrounding community, census data for Cass County shows the typical household earns roughly $70,443 per year, about 22% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. Patrick Hamilton Elementary is one of 23 public schools in Cass County (combined enrollment of about 6,258 students).

The closest other public school is Union High School, roughly 0.2 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Patrick Hamilton Elementary. Among the 5 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Patrick Hamilton Elementary ranks 5th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 36.5%.

The school occupies a small-town site.

Five-year trend. Patrick Hamilton Elementary's enrollment has fell 16% since 2018, when it stood at 268 (now 224). White enrollment moved from 48% to 52% across the same window.

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