Michigan Virtual Charter Academy, Hazel Park MI

Original Research by School Decision on Michigan Virtual Charter Academy

Michigan Virtual Charter Academy is a full-grade-band charter school serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, with its administrative address in Hazel Park, a compact inner-ring suburb of Detroit in Oakland County. As a virtual charter school, its students learn remotely rather than in a traditional building, so the Hazel Park location functions as an office hub rather than a campus families visit for daily instruction. The school draws a sizable enrollment spread fairly evenly across grade levels, with the largest concentrations in the upper elementary through high school years.

The student body reflects a mix of backgrounds. A slight majority of students identify as white, with a substantial Black population and smaller Hispanic and multiracial groups. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a community where economic need is widespread. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here. A parent evaluating support services for specialized needs would want to ask the school directly about what it offers in a virtual setting.

State assessment results from the most recent year are available across grades three through eight, and they sit well below where most Oakland County schools land. In mathematics, proficiency rates are in the single digits across every tested grade, with only a small fraction of students reaching the proficient level. English language arts results are somewhat stronger, particularly in eighth grade on the PSAT, where a considerably larger share of students met the proficiency bar. Still, the earlier elementary and middle grades show limited proficiency in ELA as well. Science and social studies results fall into a similar pattern, with modest outcomes in the tested grades. When the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades is placed against the comparison set of districts in Oakland County, it lands in the bottom quartile. This is a clear soft spot, and a parent considering this school may want to look into the school's instructional approach, tutoring supports, and how it intervenes with struggling students in a remote format.

Graduation rate data was not available for this school, and chronic absenteeism figures were also missing. Without these outcomes, the full picture of how students fare through the end of high school is incomplete. The absence may reflect how virtual charter schools sometimes report differently or sit outside certain accountability measures, but the data does not specify a reason, so it should not be read as either a strength or a weakness. Asking the school for its own reported graduation and completion figures would be a reasonable next step.

Hazel Park itself is a small, densely settled residential community with single-family homes on tree-lined streets and a commercial corridor along Nine Mile Road, where city hall, the library, the police station, and the post office cluster on a single block. The city has undergone a notable shift with the redevelopment of the former Hazel Park Raceway site into warehouse space for an Amazon distribution center, adding a commercial and industrial dimension to what has been a largely residential place. Housing here is comparatively affordable, with typical home values sitting well below the state and national benchmarks, and rents similarly modest. The local housing market saw a recent year-over-year decline in home values, while rents ticked up slightly. For families who do live in or near Hazel Park, the cost of living is lower than in much of Oakland County, and freeway access via I-75 makes commuting straightforward. Because Michigan Virtual Charter Academy serves students across the state, though, the Hazel Park context speaks more to the school's administrative home than to where most enrolled families reside.

No program offerings, course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance data was provided, and a search for recent parent-relevant district changes returned no specific results. That leaves a gap in understanding what the school offers beyond the tested core subjects, whether advanced coursework, career pathways, counseling, or extracurriculars exist, and how the virtual model handles daily engagement. Families drawn to this school are likely seeking flexibility that a remote charter provides, but the academic results suggest that the trade-off may come with real challenges in measured proficiency. A parent weighing this option would benefit from asking direct questions about how instruction is delivered, what support structures exist for students working below grade level, and what the school's own internal data shows about student growth and graduation over time.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

62.0%Cohort of 405 students · Class of 2021

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,027 schools plotted. 80 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 310%

School 10% · District 10%

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 44 pts below county median

Grade 46%

School 6% · District 6%

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 47 pts below county median

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 4%

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 78%

School 8% · District 8%

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 85%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 8%

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 413%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Science

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 13%

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 8%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 829%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

This schoolMichigan Virtual 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 4Lower-income6%Higher-income52%46 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income18%Higher-income23%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income13%Higher-income38%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income29%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income42%Higher-income59%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income3%Higher-income26%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income3%Higher-income10%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income3%Higher-income15%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income7%Higher-income11%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income2%Higher-income14%11 pp gap