Duvall Elementary School vs Howard Elementary School

Duvall Elementary School holds a 0.4-point overall rating advantage over Howard Elementary School — 9.4/10 versus 9.0/10 — a gap that carries more weight when viewed against Michigan's full field. Duvall Elementary School ranks #23 of 3190 schools statewide, while Howard Elementary School ranks #84 of 3190 — both elite positions, but Duvall sits 61 spots closer to the top of a 3,190-school ranking. For parents who weigh peer-validated performance, that distance is concrete, not cosmetic.

The academic comparison tilts slightly toward Howard: Howard Elementary School scores 9.7/10 in academics versus Duvall Elementary School's 9.5/10, a 0.2-point edge. Growth tells the opposite story. Duvall Elementary School posts a 9.3/10 growth score against Howard Elementary School's 8.5/10 — a 0.8-point gap that reflects how much individual students are advancing year over year, independent of where they started. For families whose children enter below grade level, or who simply want to know whether the school is actively accelerating learning rather than maintaining it, Duvall's growth advantage is the more actionable number.

Howard Elementary School serves nearly twice as many students — 445 versus Duvall Elementary School's 220 — which shapes the daily experience in tangible ways. Duvall's student-teacher ratio of 13.8:1 gives each teacher roughly 2.7 fewer students than Howard's 16.5:1, a structural difference that typically translates to more individualized attention and faster feedback cycles. Free and reduced lunch eligibility is nearly identical: 57% at Duvall Elementary School versus 54% at Howard Elementary School, meaning both schools serve comparable socioeconomic populations and neither comparison is distorted by demographic mismatch.

Both Duvall Elementary School and Howard Elementary School cover the same grade band — PK through 5th grade — and sit just 1.7 miles apart, so the choice is genuinely academic rather than geographic. A family zoned for either school is trading between a smaller campus with a superior growth trajectory and a larger campus with a fractionally higher academic ceiling, both operating near the top 3% of all Michigan elementary schools.