Is the Rockford Public School District the right school district for you and your family? Rockford, Michigan covers a large geographical area and their public schools are highly ranked within the state and the nation. If you’re wondering about a move to Rockford and trying to decide if the schools will meet the needs of your family, then this post is for you.

The Rockford Rams

The Rockford Rams is a very notable mascot here in West Michigan. We’re going to break down, let’s start with the location first. The Rockford Public Schools are about a 15-minute drive north of downtown Grand Rapids, mostly on the northeast side. Rockford is a very large geographical district; we’re talking about 100 square miles and stretching as far south down to Four Mile, which is right on the border of Forest Hills. Over to the east side of Rockford is going to go all the way to Nugent Street; the north side stretches up to 14 Mile; and the west side goes from the west side of 131 to Division Avenue. Overall, the total student population in Rockford is 7,750 with a 98% graduation rate, a teacher-student ratio of roughly 16 to one, and most recently, Rockford was ranked in the top 250 schools in all of the United States by Newsweek Magazine.

If we look at the state of Michigan, Rockford ranks 31 out of 557 schools which is incredible. And what is interesting, since Rockford is such a large district, with such a large population base, they’re all kind of filtering into one school. They’re known as a very athletic school, coming in at the number two ranking in the entire state of Michigan for athletic opportunities in high schools.

Elementary Schools in Rockford, MI

Something to understand is there are actually nine elementary schools, getting back to the large geographical area, they’re pretty spread out and you need a lot of elementary schools to support this large of an area. From east to west, there is Lakes Elementary, Cannonsburg Elementary, Crestwood Elementary, Meadow Ridge Elementary, Parkside Elementary, Valley View Elementary, Belmont Elementary, Roguewood Elementary, and Edgerton Trails, slated to open in the Fall of 2024. One thing that is important to know with the emergence of immersion schools, Rockford does have a Spanish immersion program, that sits right in the middle of the district. So there are a lot of opportunities to get those kiddos within a couple of miles of an incredible elementary school.

Middle Schools in Rockford

With Rockford Public, there are two middle schools. First is East Middle School, which is just north of Bostwick Lake, right around Nine Mile, and then, North Middle School, which is right on 10 Mile and Northland Drive, closer to the downtown community of Rockford. So we go from nine elementary schools, filter into two larger middle schools, and then, that’s going to take us to the one high school. 

Rockford High School

Moving on to the high school campus which is an incredible campus, featuring not only the high school but also a freshman center, is located right around the Northland Drive and Kroes area. When you drive past, you’ll see all the athletic fields, football fields, freshman center, high school, aquatic center, and auditorium, which are all top-of-the-line facilities. When you’re going to Rockford, you can expect roughly about 600 kids in each grade.

Rockford High School is home to and includes a ninth through twelfth-grade autism, spectrum disorder, and cognitive impaired program, self-contained region one resource room, capturing kids’ hearts, teen leadership, concurrent enrollment with Ferris State University, dual enrollment, and the Community Ed Child Development lab. As you can see, there are some really amazing resources and programs in the Rockford High School system. 

When it comes to fine arts opportunities at Rockford High School, there are expected options like band, choir, theater, and visual arts. When we look at the opportunities for your children to excel in language and learning new languages, there are options including Mandarin Chinese, French, German, and Spanish. 

Some of the feedback that we get when it comes to athletics with Rockford High School comes down to the larger class sizes creating more competition. There are plenty of club sports offered though too. Obviously, the main sports and the athletic facilities are absolutely top-notch but instead of simply talking about the football, basketball, and track programs, we want to highlight some of the other unique opportunities for kids to get involved, like water polo, field hockey, rugby, bowling, ski team, lacrosse, and rowing. 

As we wrap up this overview of Rockford Public Schools, we’ll end with the overall mission of the public schools which is:

To provide a safe teaching and learning environment, which will ensure, with the support of the students, parents, and community, that all students upon graduation will have the academic and social skills to be successful, lifelong learners in a global society.

With that said, our team is on a mission to get you familiar with anything related to living in (and around) Grand Rapids so if there’s something that we didn’t talk about and you’d like to learn more about, make sure to let us know in the comments or on Instagram. Until then, if you’re looking to move to Grand Rapids or buy or sell a home in Grand Rapids, make sure to connect with our team for support.