The top reported proficiency rate is 42% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Concord Academy Petoskey
Concord Academy Petoskey is a small charter school serving kindergarten through twelfth grade on the southern edge of Petoskey, along Atkins Road. As a public charter academy, it operates under its own authorizing arrangement rather than as part of the local Public Schools of Petoskey district, and it draws families looking for an alternative to the larger traditional system in town. The school serves a modest total enrollment spread across all thirteen grades, which means each grade-level cohort is quite small. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful Native American presence and a smaller multiracial and Hispanic population, reflecting the broader Emmet County area and the nearby Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians community.
The academic picture is thin in the state testing data, and that thinness is mostly a function of the school's size. For the most recent testing cycle, only third-grade results were reported. In both math and English language arts, the share of third-graders scoring proficient was modest, sitting below the midpoint among Emmet County districts. Every other tested grade showed zero tested students, so those results were suppressed. With cohorts this small, a single family moving in or out can shift a grade's results dramatically, and the absence of data across most grades makes it hard to read a trend. A parent considering this school may want to ask the administration directly how they track academic progress across the upper elementary, middle, and high school grades, since the state testing footprint does not provide much to go on. Graduation rate data was not available for this school, and chronic absenteeism figures were also missing, so neither outcome measure can be characterized here. This is common for very small charter schools where the number of students in a graduating cohort can fall below reporting thresholds.
No program or course-access data was provided, so we cannot characterize AP offerings, dual-credit pathways, career and technical programs, or arts and extracurricular breadth from the available material. The same is true for staffing, discipline, and attendance details. These are gaps a family would want to fill by visiting and asking. What the data does tell you is the basic shape: a small, charter, kindergarten-through-twelve school with a single continuous building and small peer cohorts at every level.
Petoskey itself is a resort city on Little Traverse Bay, the county seat of Emmet County, and a regional hub for communities like Bay Harbor, Bay View, Harbor Springs, and Walloon Lake. The downtown Gaslight District is a compact, walkable collection of shops and restaurants connected by a pedestrian tunnel to Bayfront Park and the city marina. The local economy runs heavily on seasonal tourism, hospitality, and retail, with McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital as a major year-round employer and government providing steady work as well. North Central Michigan College adds an educational presence in town. The Little Traverse Wheelway, a long paved trail, links Charlevoix to Harbor Springs and passes near the city, and Petoskey State Park sits a short drive northeast with sandy Lake Michigan shoreline.
Housing here is expensive relative to the state and the nation. Typical home values in the school's zip code are well above the Michigan benchmark and also above the national figure, and they have been climbing at a brisk recent pace. Rents are more moderate but still reflect a resort market where seasonal demand pressures supply. For a family considering buying, the cost of entry into this area is a real factor. For renters, the market is comparatively gentler, though still shaped by the summer resort cycle.
The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes, referendums, curriculum shifts, or property-tax movements for Concord Academy specifically, so there is nothing new to flag on the governance or fiscal side.
What this school appears to offer is a small, continuous kindergarten-through-twelfth environment in a desirable resort town, with small peer groups and a charter alternative to the larger public system. What the data does not yet show is a track record on state testing beyond a single small third-grade cohort, a graduation rate, or program breadth. A family drawn to the setting and the small-community feel would want to fill those gaps in person before deciding.
See more original research from School Decision →