Copyright CBS News
Several Southeast Michigan public schools are included in the latest U.S. News & World Report's listing of Best Michigan Elementary Schools. The 2026 rankings were issued Wednesday, reflecting an analysis of about 2,600 public schools as part of the publication's annual education series. The magazine says it reviews charter schools separately and does not issue rankings for private schools because they do not consistently use state assessments. "Great elementary and middle schools educate their students from all socioeconomic backgrounds with the goal of setting them up for success," the magazine said. The publication said its methodology reviews state test scores for reading/language arts and math students for all grade levels at each campus, whether it served pre-K, elementary or middle grades, and then included a calculation of those test results in the context of the school's demographics. Student-teacher ratios are used to break ties in the overall scoring. "In other words, the top-ranked schools are all high-achieving and have succeeded in educating all their students," the press release said. The current top Michigan public elementary schools, as ranked by the publication, and their cities, are as follows:
