Agbu Alexmarie Manoogian School, Southfield MI

Original Research by School Decision on Agbu Alexmarie Manoogian School

AGBU AlexMarie Manoogian School is a public charter academy in Southfield, serving students from kindergarten through twelfth grade on a single campus along Northwestern Highway. The school carries an Armenian cultural identity in its name and governance, and its student body is nearly entirely white, with only a handful of students from other racial backgrounds. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is small for a K-through-12 operation, with roughly two dozen to three dozen students per grade, which means classmates stay together across years and teachers know families well. Class sizes in the tested elementary and middle grades are modest, so a single student's performance can move a grade-level result noticeably.

State assessment results from the most recent year show a school that performs well above the Oakland County median on the composite proficiency index, sitting in the top quartile relative to districts countywide. In math, third and fourth graders post strong proficiency, with roughly three-quarters of third graders and nearly two-thirds of fourth graders meeting the standard. Fifth grade math dips to about half proficient, and the middle grades of six and seven are softer, with fewer than half of those students proficient. Eighth grade math on the PSAT rebounds to about two-thirds proficient, a strong showing for that grade band. English language arts follows a related pattern: third, fourth, and fifth grades cluster around the mid-fifties to low sixties, sixth grade drops sharply to under a third proficient, seventh returns to half, and eighth grade stands out with more than three-quarters proficient. Science and social studies results are available only for fifth and eighth grades, with eighth graders performing noticeably better than fifth graders in both subjects.

The clearest pattern across these results is a dip in the middle grades, particularly sixth, followed by stronger outcomes by eighth grade. A parent considering this school may want to look into how the curriculum and instruction are sequenced through those transition years, since the data suggests a rough patch that the school appears to move students past by grade eight.

Publicly reported information from the school indicates that in fall 2022 the campus opened a new STEAM Center with renewable energy technology and updated facilities, serving as the science and technology hub for the full K-12 student body. This deepens a project-based STEAM focus that families can ask about when visiting. Beyond that, the payload did not include details on AP courses, dual-enrollment options, career pathways, or extracurriculars, so families should request that information directly. Data on staffing ratios, course access, discipline, and attendance was also not available.

Several outcomes a parent might look for were missing from the data. No four-year graduation rate was reported for this school, and no chronic absenteeism figure was available. The school does serve high school grades, so the absence of a graduation rate is a gap worth asking about rather than a structural exclusion. Special-population data, including IEP and English-learner counts, was not reported, which limits the picture of how the school serves students with identified needs.

Southfield itself is an inner-ring suburb of Detroit, roughly fifteen miles northwest of downtown. Publicly reported descriptions characterize it as a major commercial and business center for the metro area, with a large office footprint second only to Detroit's central business district. Several internationally known corporations maintain offices or headquarters here, and the daytime business population is far larger than the residential population. The built environment is largely auto-oriented, organized around major freeways, with separated office parks, commercial strips, and residential neighborhoods rather than a continuous walkable fabric. The Southfield City Centre, a mixed-use district near the freeway interchange, and the ongoing redevelopment of the former Northland Center mall site into a mixed-use complex represent the city's main growth and development stories. Lawrence Technological University sits within the City Centre area and adds an educational presence. Civic life centers on the Civic Center complex, which houses City Hall, the public library, courts, and recreation facilities. The city has a substantial amount of parkland, two public golf courses, and nature trails.

Housing in the school's zip code is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit below the Michigan state figure and well below the national figure, and rents are moderate. Year-over-year home values have ticked upward modestly, while rents have risen at a somewhat faster clip. For families looking to buy or rent near the school, this part of Southfield offers a more accessible price point than much of Oakland County.

In sum, this is a small, culturally distinctive charter school with strong early-grade and eighth-grade assessment results, a mid-grade dip worth investigating, a publicly reported STEAM investment, and a location in an established suburban business center with affordable housing. Families drawn to a close-knit K-12 campus with a specific cultural identity and a STEAM focus may find it a good fit, while those wanting verified graduation data, advanced-course catalogs, or special-education details should ask the school directly.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 35 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,027 schools plotted. 80 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 13 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 739%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 66%

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 362%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 13 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 628%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

This schoolAGBU Alex-Marie Manoogian School, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income56%Higher-income70%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income73%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income79%48 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income21%Higher-income40%19 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income52%Higher-income47%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income75%Higher-income70%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income56%Higher-income73%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income64%26 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income50%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income43%Higher-income33%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income64%Higher-income69%6 pp gap