Hanley International Academy, Hamtramck MI

Original Research by School Decision on Hanley International Academy

Hanley International Academy is a charter school serving prekindergarten through eighth grade, located on Denton Street in Hamtramck, a compact enclave fully surrounded by Detroit. The school is its own district, authorized by Grand Valley State University, and it operates as a regular public charter rather than a magnet or specialty school. Because it ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report; that measure applies to high schools, and Hanley does not serve those grades.

The student body is predominantly Asian American, with a smaller Black enrollment and a tiny handful of white and multiracial students. Nearly every child qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the working-class, immigrant character of the surrounding community. The school sits in a city shaped by waves of migration. Hamtramck began as a German farming settlement, became a Polish-American factory town when the Dodge Brothers plant opened, and is now the only Muslim-majority municipality in the United States, with large Yemeni, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani communities. Publicly reported sources note that schoolchildren in Hamtramck speak at least sixteen native languages, and the city's motto is "A League of Nations." Joseph Campau Avenue is the commercial and civic spine, lined with Polish bakeries, Middle Eastern and South Asian shops, and cultural institutions like the Polish Art Center. The city is described as uniquely walkable, with a dense gridded layout that helps recent immigrants who do not yet drive. Schools and civic life are woven into the residential fabric rather than set apart on separated campuses.

State assessment results from the most recent year show a mixed academic picture. In math, proficiency is a genuine bright spot in the early grades, with third and fourth graders performing well, but results drop steeply in the upper elementary and middle grades, bottoming out in seventh grade before ticking up slightly on the eighth-grade PSAT. English language arts follows a different pattern. Third grade is the weakest showing, results climb through fourth and fifth, dip in sixth, rebound in seventh, and then the eighth-grade PSAT result is strikingly strong. That eighth-grade ELA outcome stands out as the school's most impressive single result. Science and social studies, tested only in fifth and eighth grades, land in a moderate range, with eighth-grade social studies the stronger of the two.

Measured against other districts in Wayne County, Hanley's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint. That positioning is meaningful given the high-poverty student population and the concentration of English learners typical of Hamtramck's immigrant communities, though the school did not report its English-learner or special-education counts, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about those supports.

The housing market around the school is among the most affordable in the state. Home values in the school's zip code are far below the Michigan statewide benchmark and roughly a third of the national figure, and they have softened slightly over the past year. Rents have risen modestly. This is an accessible entry point for families who want to buy, but the market reflects the broader economic pressures on a small, industrial city.

Several things are missing from the available data. The school did not report chronic absenteeism, discipline data, course access, or staffing details. No information on specific program offerings was provided. The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes in recent years. These gaps do not signal a problem in themselves, but a family comparing options would want to ask the school about class sizes, support services for English learners, enrichment offerings, and how the school addresses the sharp drop in math proficiency between the early and upper grades.

What the data does say is that Hanley is a school serving a tight-knit immigrant community in one of Michigan's most distinctive cities, with real strengths in early-grade math and a surprisingly strong eighth-grade reading result, alongside softer middle-grade math performance that warrants a closer look. For families drawn to Hamtramck's walkable, multicultural setting and looking for a charter option, the school offers a pathway with solid early foundations, and the upper-grade dip in math is the question worth bringing to the administration.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 42%

even with state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 451%

School 51% · District 51%

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

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 13 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 26%

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

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 17%

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

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 319%

School 19% · District 19%

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

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 41%

even with state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 36%

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

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 37%

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

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 71%

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

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Grade 831%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Social studies

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolHanley International 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.