The top reported proficiency rate is 30% in Science. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Uplift Michigan Academy
Uplift Michigan Academy is a single-school virtual charter district serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade across Michigan. It operates as a full-online public school, which shapes nearly everything about how it functions and who it serves. The district brief identifies it explicitly as a virtual charter, and the data bears that out in several ways. There is no physical street address listed, no locale brief tied to a particular town, and the chronic absenteeism rate sits at the very bottom among Menominee County's districts, which is consistent with an online setting where attendance is measured differently than in a bricks-and-mortar building.
The enrollment is modest for a full K-through-12 operation, with students spread across all grades. The high school grades are the largest cohort, and the elementary grades are the smallest, particularly at kindergarten and first grade. The student body is racially mixed. A slim majority of students are white, and a substantial minority are Black, with smaller Hispanic and multiracial populations, plus a handful of American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian students. This is a more diverse enrollment than most of the surrounding Menominee County districts would typically serve, which likely reflects the statewide draw of a virtual school rather than a geographically bounded population. Several key demographic measures are missing from the data. Free or reduced-price lunch counts, special education rates, and English learner rates were all unavailable. A parent evaluating fit may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students with disabilities and English learners, since none of that information appeared in the state-reported data.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results are weak across the board. In math, proficiency rates from third through eighth grade are at or near the floor, with most grades in the lowest reported range and no grade showing more than a small fraction of students reaching proficiency. English language arts is somewhat stronger, especially in eighth grade, where nearly half of tested students met proficiency on the PSAT-based measure. Still, the intermediate elementary and middle grades in ELA hover well below what most Michigan schools produce. Science results are similarly low in fifth grade and only modestly better in eighth grade. Social studies follows the same pattern. The district's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among Menominee County's districts, below every other county district with reported results.
Per-pupil current spending is in the lower range compared with neighboring county districts, which is consistent with the lean cost structure of a virtual model but may also reflect into what resources are available for intervention and enrichment. No program offerings were listed in the data. No Advanced Placement, career and technical education, dual-enrollment, extracurricular, or specialized academic programs were reported. Whether that means none exist or they were simply not captured in the data is unclear. A parent considering this school for a high schooler should ask specifically about college credit opportunities, career pathways, and any electives, because the data does not confirm any.
The district brief searched for parent-relevant changes and found nothing lasting to report, only basic profile and demographic information. No strategic plan, bond issue, leadership change, or program expansion surfaced. No graduation rate was reported, which is a notable gap for a district that serves high school grades. A parent would reasonably want to ask the school about its graduation rate and post-graduate outcomes directly, since the state data did not provide one.
What this school appears to be is a full-time online charter option drawing a diverse student population from across Michigan, with the flexibility and accessibility that a virtual model implies. The academic results, as reported by the state, are low across tested subjects and grades. A family looking at Uplift Michigan Academy should weigh the convenience and accessibility of the online format against the academic performance data, and should ask the school pointed questions about support services, graduation outcomes, and program offerings that the available data did not answer.
See more original research from School Decision →