The reported proficiency rate for English language arts is 26%.
Original Research by School Decision on Great Lakes Academy
Great Lakes Academy is a single-school district in Oakland County, Michigan, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It is a small enrollment setting, with roughly two hundred students spread across the nine grade levels, and the population is predominantly Black, with smaller Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, and White enrollments. Because the district ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report; that measure applies to high schools, and Great Lakes Academy does not serve those grades. The same is true of any high-school-only metric the state tracks.
On state assessments, the picture is one of broad academic difficulty. In the most recent round of M-STEP testing, math proficiency across grades three through six landed in the lowest reported range. The same pattern held for English language arts in grades three, four, and six. Fifth-grade ELA was the one bright spot, with roughly a quarter of tested students reaching proficiency, and seventh-grade results in both math and ELA fell into a broader range that could extend to the middle of the distribution. Grade eight results were suppressed entirely, with no tested students recorded for that grade. Science and social studies proficiency in fifth grade also sat in the lowest range, and eighth-grade results in those subjects were suppressed as well. Average scale scores were reported for most grades, which gives a parent something to compare against state benchmarks if they wish, but the proficiency counts themselves are stark: across nearly every grade and subject, the number of students scoring proficient was zero or near zero.
Placed among Oakland County's districts, Great Lakes Academy's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint. The county spans a wide range of outcomes, and this district falls on the lower end of that spread. Per-pupil current spending sits in the middle range, upper half, roughly matching the county median, so the resource level is not obviously the constraining factor relative to neighbors.
The chronic absenteeism rate is the most concerning figure in the dataset. It falls in the bottom quartile among Oakland County's districts, and the rate itself is extremely high. A number this elevated suggests that a large majority of students are missing substantial instructional time, which would be consistent with the low proficiency results and which a parent may want to look into further with the school. Whether the causes are transportation, health, family circumstances, or school climate, the data does not say, but the absence level is severe enough to shape the entire academic environment.
Several data gaps are worth naming. Free-or-reduced-price lunch counts were not available, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be characterized from what was provided. IEP and English learner rates were also missing, which limits the picture of how the school serves students with specialized needs. No locale brief was available for the surrounding community, and a search for recent district-level changes such as curriculum shifts, facility investments, or governance decisions turned up nothing with lasting parent impact. No program offerings were listed, so whether the school provides arts, athletics, dual-language, or enrichment beyond the core curriculum is not something the data addresses.
The peer environment is small and close-knit by necessity of size. Class sizes at each grade level are modest, and the racial and ethnic composition is heavily concentrated in one group, which is a characteristic rather than a judgment. For a family considering this district, the central questions the data raises are about attendance and academic attainment. The spending level is comparable to neighbors, but the outcomes are not keeping pace. A parent weighing Great Lakes Academy would benefit from asking the school directly what attendance interventions are in place, what instructional supports target the proficiency gap, and what the experience is like for a child moving through these grades day to day. The data here gives a clear signal that those conversations matter.
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