The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Science. The lowest is 25% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Waterford Montessori Academy
Waterford Montessori Academy is a small charter district in Oakland County, Michigan, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It operates two school sites, both open, and its enrollment is modest for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with Hispanic, Black, multiracial, Asian, and American Indian students also represented. The data did not include free-or-reduced-price lunch counts, special education rates, or English learner figures, so the economic and special-population picture here is incomplete. A parent wanting to understand the socioeconomic mix or the level of specialized support would want to ask the school directly.
Because this is a pre-K through eighth-grade entity, there is no graduation rate to report, and that gap reflects the grade band rather than anything about performance. The same applies to high school measures such as AP or career-pathway data, which simply do not apply here. The state does test grades three through eight, and those results are available for the most recent school year.
On Michigan's M-STEP and PSAT assessments, the academy's results are uneven across grades and subjects, with some genuinely strong pockets and some clear soft spots. English language arts is the brighter area. Third grade proficiency is moderate, fourth and fifth grades dip, and then the upper grades show real strength. Sixth and seventh grade ELA proficiency is well above what many schools post, and eighth grade ELA on the PSAT is especially strong. In science, eighth grade proficiency is also high, while fifth grade science is more middling. Social studies follows a similar pattern, with fifth grade quite low and eighth grade very strong. Math is the weaker subject across the board. Proficiency in the upper elementary and middle grades hovers in a modest range, and a couple of grades show quite low proficiency. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly how math instruction aligns with the Montessori approach and how the school supports students who are below grade level.
Among Oakland County's districts, the academy's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint, which is a solid position for a small charter in a county with many well-resourced districts. Chronic absenteeism is reported and sits above the county midpoint, meaning a higher share of students are chronically absent than at the typical district in the comparison set. Per-pupil current spending is in the lower range among county districts, which is common for charter schools that often operate with less funding than traditional districts.
The district brief search found no clear evidence of lasting parent-relevant changes in recent years, only basic descriptive and fiscal data. No locale brief was available for this entity, so there is no housing-market or community context to draw on here. Programs data was also absent, so nothing can be said about extracurriculars, dual-credit options, or specialized offerings beyond what the Montessori model itself implies. Participation rates for the state assessments were not reported, which is worth noting since strong participation matters for how confidently one reads the results.
For a family drawn to Montessori education, the academy offers a continuous pre-K through eighth-grade pathway in a single system, and its upper-grade ELA and science results suggest that some students do very well by the time they finish. The math results across several grades are the area most worth pressing on. The absenteeism figure is another thing a parent would want to understand. The school's spending level is low relative to neighboring districts, and whether that affects class size, staffing, or specialist offerings would be a reasonable question to bring to the administration.
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