The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in English language arts. The lowest is 5% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Crescent Academy Elementary
Crescent Academy Elementary is a charter school in Southfield, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit known as a major business and commercial center for the metro area. The school sits on Code Road and serves grades two through five, operating under the Crescent Academy charter district, which spans pre-kindergarten through tenth grade across three schools. The district search surfaced little in the way of recent, lasting changes a parent would need to weigh, so that context is thin here.
The student body is small for its grade band, and nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is almost entirely Black, with a tiny handful of students identifying as Hispanic or multiracial. IEP and English learner counts were not reported in the data, so those figures are absent here rather than assumed. This is a school serving a high-poverty community in a city where the housing market runs below the state benchmark for typical home values, and rents have dipped slightly year over year. Home prices in the surrounding zip code sit well below the national benchmark, which means housing costs around the school are relatively accessible compared with much of the country.
Southfield itself is an auto-oriented city organized around major freeways, with a large stock of office space, corporate offices, and separate office parks rather than a continuous walkable fabric. The Southfield City Centre district and the ongoing redevelopment of the former Northland Center mall site into a mixed-use complex are the main growth stories. Publicly reported sources describe the city as having extensive parkland, two public golf courses, nature trails, and civic anchors like the Southfield Public Library and Civic Center complex. Lawrence Technological University and Oakland Community College add an educational presence to the city.
On state assessments through the M-STEP, proficiency rates at Crescent Academy Elementary are low across subjects and grades. In math, roughly a quarter of third and fourth graders reached proficiency, but that share dropped considerably in fifth grade. Sixth-grade math results also appear in the data despite the school's stated grade range ending at fifth, and those results were similarly low. English language arts showed a somewhat stronger pattern, with proficiency edging above a quarter of students in most grades and reaching its highest level in fifth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade was low, and social studies proficiency in fifth grade was very low, among the weakest results the school reported. Participation rates were not available in the data. Against the comparison set of districts in Oakland County, the school's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint. A parent considering this school may want to look into how the school is working to strengthen instruction in math and social studies specifically, and what support structures exist for students performing below grade level.
The data does not include graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, discipline reports, course access, staffing ratios, or attendance figures. Some of these gaps reflect the elementary grade band: graduation rate does not apply to a school that does not serve high school grades. Others, like absenteeism and discipline, were simply not reported in the available sources. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible from this data to say whether proficiency is improving or declining over time.
What the picture shows is a small, high-poverty charter elementary school serving a nearly entirely Black student body in an established Detroit suburb with accessible housing and a strong corporate and institutional base nearby. Academic results as measured by the state are currently low across subjects, with English language arts showing relatively more strength than math, science, or social studies. Families weighing this school would benefit from asking the administration directly about academic improvement plans, instructional support, and any enrichment or intervention programs in place for students working below proficiency.
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