Chandler Woods Charter Academy, Belmont MI

Original Research by School Decision on Chandler Woods Charter Academy

Chandler Woods Charter Academy sits in Belmont, an unincorporated community within Plainfield Charter Township in Kent County, roughly eight miles north of Grand Rapids. The area has a suburban-to-rural feel, with residential subdivisions scattered along roads like Cannonsburg and House, interspersed with specialty farms, golf courses, and the Cannonsburg Ski Area. There is no traditional walkable downtown; daily errands generally require a car. The White Pine Trail, a long rail-to-trail corridor running from Comstock Park to Cadillac, passes through and gives the area a recreational spine. Nearby commercial centers sit in Comstock Park to the southwest and Rockford to the northeast. Housing values here run well above both the Michigan and national benchmarks, and the area reads as relatively affluent, with median household income above the state average. For a family, this means a quieter, spread-out setting with strong outdoor amenities and Grand Rapids within a short drive for work, shopping, and culture.

The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, with an enrollment that is moderate for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with small Hispanic and multiracial populations and very few Asian or Black students. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a moderate share that is neither negligible nor dominant. The school does not report IEP or English-learner data, so families whose children need special-education services or language support will want to ask the school directly about what is available.

Academically, Chandler Woods is a strong performer. Across every tested grade and subject, proficiency rates sit well above what is typical for Michigan schools. Math proficiency runs from roughly the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties percent range across grades three through eight, with fourth grade the highest. English language arts is similarly strong, with fifth and eighth grade results especially high. Science proficiency in fifth and eighth grade lands in the mid-eighties, and social studies results are solid as well. Placed against districts in Kent County, Chandler Woods sits in the top quartile for overall proficiency, at or near the top of the county's measured schools. The school was also named a National Blue Ribbon School in 2024, a federal recognition of sustained academic excellence that reinforces what the test results show. Trend data was not available, so it is not possible to say whether these results are rising or steady, but the current picture is one of consistently high academic outcomes.

Because the school ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and that is expected for a PK-8 institution rather than a gap in performance. Similarly, the school does not appear in chronic absenteeism or discipline data in the provided materials, so those aspects of school climate are not covered here. A parent may want to ask the school about attendance patterns, disciplinary approach, and what high schools its graduates typically move on to. Course-access and staffing details were also not available in the data, so the narrative cannot speak to class sizes, specialist teachers, or enrichment offerings beyond what the state assessments imply.

What the evidence does show is a charter school delivering strong academic results in a setting that balances rural tranquility with proximity to a major metro. The community offers recreation, relative affluence, and access to Grand Rapids, while the school provides a high-performing academic pathway through middle school. For families drawn to a smaller, outdoor-oriented community who want strong test scores and a recognized school, this is a place worth exploring closely, with questions directed to the school about support services and the high-school transition.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 76%

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

Grade 486%

School 86% · District 86%

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 78%

▲ 50 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 777%

School 77% · District 77%

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 49 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 75%

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

Grade 480%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 591%

School 91% · District 91%

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 74%

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

Grade 892%

School 92% · District 92%

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

Science

Grade 585%

School 85% · District 85%

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Grade 884%

School 84% · District 84%

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 881%

School 81% · District 81%

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

This schoolChandler Woods Charter 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-income50%Higher-income86%36 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income85%Higher-income77%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income61%Higher-income75%13 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income80%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income62%Higher-income83%21 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income89%Higher-income85%4 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income60%Higher-income78%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income72%Higher-income83%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income74%Higher-income78%4 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income79%Higher-income75%4 pp gap