The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in Science. The lowest is 15% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Madison Academy Elementarymiddle School
Madison Academy ElementaryMiddle School is a public charter school on Flint's south side, serving kindergarten through eighth grade on Torrey Road. It operates under the Madison Academy district, a single-charter authorizing entity. The school sits in a city whose story most readers will know in outline. Flint was once a General Motors manufacturing powerhouse, home to Buick and Chevrolet operations, and the decades since those workforce reductions have brought population decline, demolition of vacant structures, and steady recovery efforts. The downtown core along Saginaw Street retains cultural venues like the Capitol Theatre and the Sloan Museum, and the University of Michigan-Flint campus sits adjacent to downtown. Outside that core, the city is largely auto-dependent, with residential neighborhoods spread across a wide footprint and commercial uses concentrated along major corridors. Public transit through the Mass Transportation Authority serves the broader Flint area. Publicly reported information describes Flint as a city in long-term recovery, having secured a new water source and replaced lead service lines after the water crisis, with redevelopment efforts centered on downtown and cultural assets.
The school's enrollment is modest for a K-through-eight building. Its student body is predominantly Black, with smaller Hispanic, white, and multiracial populations. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school among the highest-need populations in the county. Data on special education enrollment and English learner status was not available, so those dimensions of student support cannot be characterized here. A parent may want to ask the school directly about those services.
On state assessments, the most recent results show a school with largely low proficiency across subjects and grade levels, positioned below the midpoint among Genesee County districts on an overall proficiency index. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through seven cluster in a low range, with the strongest grade reaching roughly a quarter of tested students and most grades well below that. Eighth-grade math, measured through the PSAT, fell into the lowest reported band with no students reaching proficiency. English language arts results follow a similar pattern, with most grades in a low band and one grade standing higher, approaching two-fifths of tested students proficient. Science results are mixed. Fifth-grade science was the strongest result in the building, with half of tested students proficient, while eighth-grade science dropped to a very low level. Social studies followed the same pattern, with a moderate fifth-grade result and a low eighth-grade one. Participation rates were not reported for any grade or subject, and no multi-year trend data was available, so there is no way to assess from the data whether these results are improving, holding, or declining over time. A parent considering this school should look into what academic supports and interventions the school has in place, and ask how it plans to strengthen instruction in the grades and subjects where proficiency is lowest.
Because this school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and that absence reflects the grade band rather than any gap in the school's performance. No chronic absenteeism data was available for comparison either.
The housing market around the school is one of the most affordable in Michigan. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit far below the state benchmark and well below national levels, and rents are similarly modest relative to broader benchmarks. Both home values and rents have been rising modestly year over year, though from a low base. For families who own or are looking to buy, this is an inexpensive entry point into homeownership. For renters, monthly costs are low. The tradeoff is that Flint's long economic recovery is still underway, and the surrounding neighborhood context includes vacant lots and structures from decades of demolition activity, alongside active revitalization efforts downtown and along commercial corridors.
The district brief turned up little publicly reported information about recent parent-relevant changes at Madison Academy, no evidence of curriculum overhauls, referendums, or property-tax shifts, so that material is left out rather than guessed at. What the assembled picture shows is a small charter school serving a high-need student population in an affordable, recovering city, with state assessment results that are low across most grades and subjects and limited publicly available data on student support services, staffing, or programs. Families weighing this school will want to visit, ask about academic interventions and special populations services, and get a direct read on classroom culture that the available data cannot supply.
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