Creative Technologies Academy, Cedar Springs MI

Original Research by School Decision on Creative Technologies Academy

Creative Technologies Academy is a tuition-free public charter school in Cedar Springs, Michigan, serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Chartered by Ferris State University, it was reauthorized with a contract running through mid-2026, confirming its continued operation as a public school of choice for families in Cedar Springs and the surrounding West Michigan area. The school sits on Pine Street in a small city about twenty miles north of Grand Rapids, placing it within commuting distance of the larger metropolitan region while retaining its own distinct small-town character.

The enrollment is small for a school spanning every grade, which means students grow up in a setting where faces stay familiar across the years. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and very few students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not report its special-education or English-learner counts, so those looking for information on those services will want to ask the school directly.

On state assessments, the picture is mixed and worth reading carefully. Math proficiency across the tested grades is generally below the statewide midpoint, with several grades showing only about a fifth to a third of students meeting proficiency benchmarks. One elementary grade recorded no proficient students, though the tested group in that grade was small enough that a single year's result can swing sharply. English language arts shows more variability: some elementary and middle grades land in the low-to-mid range, while eighth-grade ELA on the PSAT stood out as a relative strength, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Science and social studies results fall in a moderate band, with eighth-grade social studies another bright spot. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint relative to districts in Kent County. The county comparison set includes a large cohort of districts, and this school's results place it in the lower portion of that group. A parent weighing academic rigor may want to look into how the school supports students who are below grade level, particularly in mathematics, and what intervention structures are in place.

Several pieces of information that families often rely on were not available in the data provided. No graduation rate was reported, though this may reflect the school's small senior class sizes or reporting choices rather than an absence of graduates. No chronic absenteeism data, discipline data, course access information, staffing ratios, or Title I status were reported. Program offerings such as AP, dual enrollment, or career-technical pathways were not included in the data, so families should contact the school directly to understand what the upper grades look like in practice.

The surrounding community shapes the experience here. Cedar Springs is a compact city with a downtown along Main Street, a lumbering heritage still celebrated through the long-running Red Flannel Festival, and a stable industrial base that includes packaging and precision manufacturing. The White Pine Trail runs through town, bringing recreational traffic. Housing values in the zip code run above the state benchmark and slightly below the national one, with steady recent appreciation and low vacancy rates pointing to a tight housing market. For a family already in or near Cedar Springs, this school offers a small, continuous PK-12 pathway with a community-rooted setting. The academic results suggest that the fit depends heavily on what a family expects from the classroom and how the school addresses its weaker areas.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 19 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 324%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 38%

even with state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 731%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 32%

▲ 5 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 20%

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

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 872%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 39%

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 526%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 64%

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

This schoolCreative Technologies Academy, 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-income33%Higher-income23%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income25%Higher-income23%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income27%Higher-income50%23 pp gap