Keystone Academy, Belleville MI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Keystone Academy

Keystone Academyis a charter school in Belleville, Michigan, serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It operates as its own single-school district, managed by National Heritage Academies, a charter management organization. The school sits on Bemis Road in this small lakeside city in Wayne County, roughly equidistant from Detroit and Ann Arbor. Belleville itself wraps around the southern shore of Belleville Lake, the largest inland lake in the county, and retains a small-town feel despite its position between two major employment centers. The city has seen a modest population decline in recent years, and housing here runs more affordable than the state and national benchmarks, with typical home values and rents both below those wider reference points. Most families in the area rely on cars, with highway access to I-94 and US-23 nearby.

The school's enrollment is moderate for a K-8 charter, with a grade distribution that narrows as students get older, which is fairly typical of schools that lose some students to other options in the upper grades. The student body is majority white, with a meaningful Black population and smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students. A substantial portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a working-class to middle-class community. Data on special education and English learner populations was not reported, so those figures are not available here.

Academically, Keystone Academy stands out in its Wayne County context. Its overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the top quartile among the county's districts, a strong position given that Wayne County includes both Detroit and a wide ring of suburban districts with varying resources. The state assessment results, from the most recent school year, show a consistent pattern. English language arts is the school's clearest strength. Proficiency rates climb steadily from third grade through eighth grade, reaching a high level by eighth grade on the PSAT. Fifth, sixth, and seventh grade ELA results are all strong, suggesting that the school builds literacy skills effectively as students progress.

Math results are solid but more mixed. Third, fourth, and fifth grade math proficiency sits around the midpoint, while sixth grade math rises to a higher level and seventh and eighth grade remain above the midpoint. Science and social studies, tested only in fifth and eighth grades, land in the same moderate-to-strong range as the other subjects. The school has no graduation rate because it ends at eighth grade, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the provided materials.

No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say from this data whether these results represent improvement, stability, or decline over time. Participation rates were also missing from the state data set. A parent weighing this school against others may want to ask the school directly about year-over-year trends and how it supports students who are not yet meeting proficiency, particularly in the earlier elementary math grades where results are less elevated than the upper-grade ELA numbers.

The locale brief notes that Belleville's traditional downtown, its lakefront parks, and its civic events give the community a distinct identity. The city recently updated its master plan and is actively promoting commercial and industrial development along the railroad corridor. No specific major employers were identified in the available sources, and no public library branch or transit system was documented. The housing market shows moderate year-over-year appreciation in both home values and rents, with mortgage rates in the broader economy hovering in the mid-six percent range. For families already in or near Belleville, Keystone Academy offers a charter option with strong reading results and respectable math and science performance, positioned well above most of its Wayne County peers on the proficiency measure that is available. The trade-off is the lack of reported data on attendance, special populations, and longer-term trends, gaps that a prospective family would want to fill through direct conversation with the school.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 49%

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

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 49%

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

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 61%

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

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 52%

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

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 56%

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

English language arts

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 51%

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

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 54%

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

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 67%

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

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 69%

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

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 69%

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

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Science

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 59%

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

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 62%

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

Social studies

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 56%

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

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 55%

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

This schoolKeystone 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-income39%Higher-income67%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income54%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income53%Higher-income80%27 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income65%Higher-income73%8 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income61%Higher-income77%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income67%Higher-income74%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income60%19 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income50%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income62%25 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income57%Higher-income67%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income42%Higher-income61%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income55%Higher-income58%4 pp gap