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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Upton Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
690
Middle
DISTRICT 584 · STATE 502
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ST. JOSEPH PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 263285006835
Upton Middle School
800 MAIDEN LN, SAINT JOSEPH, MI 49085 · (269) 926-3400 · Berrien County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL690 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 19.8:1 · STATE 17.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
21%
143 students
DISTRICT 21% · 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 | 233 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 234 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 223 | 32% |
Student demographics
44%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 45% · 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
Upton Middle School→St Joseph High School
Based on grade levels within St. Joseph Public Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
61.2%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
51.1%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 61 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
58.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
57.1%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 58% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 57% 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 Upton Middle School
Upton Middle School's state test result (58.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upton Middle School this school | 690 | 20.7% | 58.0% |
| Portage Central Middle School PORTAGE | 719 | 18.9% | 53.2% |
| Byron Center West Middle School BYRON CENTER | 729 | 23.3% | 77.8% |
| Robert L Nickels Intermediate School BYRON CENTER | 705 | 22.8% | 67.4% |
| Haslett Middle School HASLETT | 660 | 23.2% | 58.8% |
| Riley Street Middle School HUDSONVILLE | 688 | 19.8% | 58.2% |
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 Upton Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Michigan | In Berrien County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 58.0% | #71 of 397 | #3 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.1% | #77 of 380 | #2 of 10 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 61.2% | #53 of 377 | #2 of 10 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 690 | #113 of 491 | #1 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.1:1 | #355 of 436 | #8 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 43.6% | #165 of 437 | #5 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.7% | #410 of 477 | #12 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -2.0% | #318 of 339 | #10 of 10 |
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
690
+33 (+5%) vs 2020
+30% since 1990-91, when it was 530
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
was 13.1:1
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 | 690 | 36.2 | 19.1:1 | 21% (143) |
| 2023-24 | 663 | 36.8 | 18.0:1 | 26% (174) |
| 2022-23 | 665 | 36.2 | 18.4:1 | 30% (201) |
| 2020-21 | 657 | 50 | 13.1:1 | 26% (171) |
| 2017-18 | 704 | 33.4 | 21.1:1 | 33% (229) |
| 2015-16 | 705 | 32 | 22.0:1 | 27% (191) |
| 2010-11 | 664 | 34 | 19.5:1 | 20% (134) |
| 2000-01 | 696 | 44 | 15.8:1 | 9% (64) |
| 1990-91 | 530 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Upton Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 2% (704 to 690); teachers up 8% (33.4 to 36.2).
About Upton Middle School
A medium-sized middle-grades school in SAINT JOSEPH, Michigan, Upton Middle School is part of St. Joseph Public Schools. A total of 690 students attend the school, which covers grades 6 through 8. The average for middle schools in Michigan is about 502 students, so this school is 37% larger than average.
District-wide, St. Joseph Public Schools has 5 schools and 2,918 students.
White students are the majority at Upton Middle School, with 74% of enrollment. Enrollment also includes 8% Black, 8% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 5% multiracial. County-wide, about 74% of residents are White. Upton Middle School's diversity index is 44%, against a US figure of 70%.
Upton Middle School operates with 36.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, a ratio of about 19.1:1. That is higher than the 17.5:1 average for middle schools in Michigan. About 21% of students at the school meet free or reduced-price lunch income limits. That is 34 points below the 55% average for public schools in Berrien County.
On BeatsExpectations, Upton Middle School is within a point of its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Michigan schools.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Berrien County show that the median household income is $65,425, roughly 31% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. Upton Middle School is one of 75 public schools in the county.
The nearest public school is Lighthouse Education Center, at about 0.7 miles. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Upton Middle School is 3rd among 7 schools close by.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Small: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
2024-25 enrollment was 690, a 5% gain from 657 in 2020-21. The ratio of students to teachers went from 13.1:1 to 19.1:1 over the same years.
Parents and students can post about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Upton Middle School. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Berrien County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
153,288
Census ACS
Median income
$65,425
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
75
21,027 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in St. Joseph Public Schools
- St Joseph High SchoolHigh · 933 students
- Clarke SchoolElementary · 462 students
- Lincoln SchoolElementary · 423 students
- Brown SchoolElementary · 410 students
Other schools in SAINT JOSEPH
- St Joseph High SchoolHigh · 933 students
- Clarke SchoolElementary · 462 students
- Lincoln SchoolElementary · 423 students
- Brown SchoolElementary · 410 students
- Lighthouse Education CenterCombined · 128 students
Other Upton Middle schools
One other US public school is named Upton Middle. Upton Middle School is the largest of the 2.
- Upton Middle SchoolUpton, WY · 206 students
Nearby schools
- Lighthouse Education Center0.7 mi · 128
- Clarke School1.5 mi · 462
- Brown School1.9 mi · 410
- Stewart Elementary School2.5 mi · 391
- Lakeshore Middle School2.5 mi · 612
- Hollywood Elementary School2.6 mi · 377
Frequently asked questions
About Upton Middle SchoolHow large is Upton Middle School?
Upton Middle School enrolls approximately 690 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Upton Middle School serve?
Upton Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Upton Middle School?
Approximately 19.1:1 students per teacher at Upton Middle School.
How diverse is Upton Middle School?
Upton Middle School reports a student body of 74% White, 8% Hispanic, 8% Black, 5% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Upton Middle School in?
Upton Middle School is part of St. Joseph Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.