The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Will Carleton Charter School Academy
Will Carleton Charter School Academy is a single-school charter district in Hillsdale County, Michigan, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The enrollment is small, with each grade-level cohort in the low-to-mid twenties on average, which means a student here will be part of a tight community where classmates and teachers know each other across grade lines. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with only a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. The data did not include free-or-reduced-price lunch counts, English learner rates, or special education rates, so the economic and special-population profile of the school is not something we can describe from what was provided. A parent considering this school may want to ask the administration directly about those figures.
Academically, the school's state assessment results for the most recent year are available across math, English language arts, science, and social studies for the tested grades. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through eight fall in a band that ranges from roughly a quarter of tested students to just under forty percent. This is a mixed picture: third and sixth grade math sit at the higher end, while fourth and fifth grade math results are lower. English language arts shows more variation. Third grade ELA is the strongest elementary result, with well over half of tested students proficient. The standout is eighth grade ELA, where a large majority of the small tested cohort reached proficiency. Science and social studies follow a similar pattern, with eighth grade results substantially stronger than fifth grade. The eighth grade science and social studies proficiency rates are among the school's better results.
Against the comparison set of Hillsdale County's districts, Will Carleton's overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile, meaning its average proficiency across tested subjects and grades is above the highest reported district in the county cohort. The school's chronic absenteeism rate is also in the top quartile, well below the lowest county district, which suggests students here attend school regularly and that the small-school environment may support consistent attendance. On the spending side, per-pupil current expenditure is in the lower range among county districts. Whether that reflects the charter model, efficiencies of scale, or constraints worth understanding is something a parent may want to look into with the school.
The data did not include a graduation rate, so we cannot describe how the high school grades perform on that measure. The school does serve grades nine through twelve, but no graduation or college-readiness figures were reported in what we received. Given the small size of each high school cohort, a parent would benefit from asking the school directly about post-graduation outcomes, dual-enrollment options, and what the upper-grade experience looks like in practice.
We looked for recent district-level changes or initiatives and found little of lasting impact from publicly reported sources. The search returned mostly descriptive profile information rather than evidence of programmatic shifts, staffing changes, or facility updates, so there is nothing concrete to relay on that front. No locale brief was available, so we cannot describe the surrounding community, housing market, or commute context from the provided data. No information on course access, staffing ratios, discipline, or Title I status was included either.
What the data does support is a picture of a small, stable charter school where attendance is strong, upper-grade ELA and science results are solid, and overall proficiency stands above the county's districts. The math results in the middle elementary grades are softer, and the absence of graduation, demographic, and economic data means a full picture requires direct outreach. For a family drawn to a small, cohesive K-through-twelve setting in rural Hillsdale County, this is a school worth a conversation and a visit.
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