William Ford Elementary School

William Ford Elementary School is a heavily attended K-5 school in DEARBORN, Michigan, part of Dearborn City School District. The school hosts 580 students in grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 57% larger than the state mean of about 369.

William Ford Elementary School is one of 37 schools operated by Dearborn City School District, a district that educates 19,197 students overall.

Looking at the student body, William Ford Elementary School logs that 98% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. That is considerably more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 49%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 15.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 89% of students at William Ford Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Wayne County (around 66%), the school's rate is somewhat above typical.

After controlling for student poverty, William Ford Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 26.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 32.5%.

Zooming out to the county, Wayne County reports that median household income runs about $60,539, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. William Ford Elementary School is one of 573 public schools in Wayne County (combined enrollment of about 259,786 students).

Nearest neighbor: Fordson High School, around 0.5 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around William Ford Elementary School. On composite proficiency, William Ford Elementary School comes 4th of 5 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 44.0%.

The campus sits in a metropolitan setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 12%: 660 students in 2018 compared to 580 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 15.2:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.