The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in English language arts. The lowest is 18% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on River City Scholars Charter Academy
River City Scholars Charter Academy is a single-school charter district in Kent County, Michigan, serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade. The enrollment is modest for its grade band, with fairly even distribution across grades though the eighth-grade class is notably smaller than the others. The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller groups identifying as two or more races, Hispanic, and White. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price lunch counts, English-learner data, or special-education rates in the data available here, so a parent would need to ask the school directly for those figures.
On state assessments, the picture is mixed but leans toward the lower end. In English language arts, proficiency rates climb as students move through the upper elementary and middle grades. Fifth-grade ELA stands out as a relative bright spot, with a substantial share of tested students reaching proficiency, and eighth-grade ELA on the PSAT also shows a healthier portion proficient. The middle grades in ELA generally outperform the early grades. Math is a softer area across the board. Third-grade math shows a quarter of tested students proficient, but fourth grade drops considerably, and by seventh and eighth grade the reported proficient counts fall to zero, with the state suppressing exact rates into a very low range. Science and social studies results land in the low-to-mid range, with fifth-grade science performing better than the eighth-grade cohort. A parent considering this school may want to look into the math curriculum and instructional support in the upper grades, where the results are weakest.
Among Kent County's districts, River City Scholars sits in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, well below the county median. This positions it as one of the lower-performing districts academically within this comparison set of forty-four districts. At the same time, per-pupil current spending is in the upper range compared with county peers, above the county median, suggesting the school directs considerable resources per student relative to its neighbors.
Chronic absenteeism is a concern. The school's chronic absenteeism rate places it in the bottom quartile among Kent County districts, well above the county median. High absenteeism correlates with weaker academic outcomes, and a parent may want to understand what the school is doing to address attendance and whether the supports in place fit their child's needs.
Because this is a K-8 charter, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not sit within the graduation-rate comparison. No participation-rate data was available for any tested grade or subject, so it is not possible to assess whether all eligible students were tested. Multi-year trend data was not available either, which means a parent cannot see from this data whether proficiency is improving or declining over time.
The district brief search found no evidence of parent-relevant changes carrying lasting impact. No locale brief was provided, so there is no housing-market or community-context information to draw on here. Program offerings, course access, staffing, discipline, and governance details such as charter or magnet status were also absent from the data.
What the available evidence describes is a small, predominantly Black charter school in Kent County with real investment per pupil, elevated chronic absenteeism, and state test results that trail most of its county peers. English language arts in the upper elementary and middle grades shows some relative strength. Math in the upper grades is where the results are most concerning. Families weighing this school would benefit from asking about attendance interventions, math instruction in grades six through eight, and any support services the school provides beyond what appears in the data.
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