Plainwell Middle School

As a middle-of-the-pack 6-8 campus in PLAINWELL, Michigan, Plainwell Middle School serves 569 students from grades 6 through 8, one of the schools within Plainwell Community Schools.

Plainwell Middle School is one of 6 schools operated by Plainwell Community Schools, a district that instructs 2,620 students overall.

On demographics, Plainwell Middle School logs that the student body is overwhelmingly White (89%). Other groups include 5% multiracial, 5% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 33 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 17.5:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 17.5:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. An estimated 32% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Allegan County (around 43%), the school's rate is noticeably below typical.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Plainwell Middle School falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 52.0%; this one comes in at 38.1%, -13.9 points off the demographic line.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Allegan County indicate median household income runs about $83,283, 27% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. In all, Allegan County runs 55 public schools (combined enrollment of about 17,174 students), of which Plainwell Middle School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Starr Elementary School, around 0.1 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Plainwell Middle School comes 5th of 6 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 40.6%.

Geographically, the school is in a town-center area.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Plainwell Middle School has shrank 9%, going from 626 students in 2018 to 569 in 2025. Class-load math has tightened: from 18.9:1 in 2018 to 17.5:1 in 2025.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.