The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in English language arts. The lowest is 5% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Henderson Academy
Henderson Academy is a regular public school in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. It sits on West Chicago Street in the city's west side, in a neighborhood where housing values are among the most affordable in Wayne County. The surrounding zip code carries typical home values far below both the state and national benchmarks, and rents run similarly modest. For a family looking at this area, the cost of entry into homeownership or rental is low relative to most of metro Detroit, and the broader county market shows ample active listings with homes spending a moderate time on market.
The school enrolls roughly mid-five-hundred students across its grade bands, with the largest concentrations in the middle grades. Its student body is almost entirely Black, with a very small number of Hispanic, white, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic conditions of the surrounding neighborhood. The data did not include special-education enrollment figures or English-learner counts, so those pieces of the student profile are missing here.
On Michigan's state assessments, Henderson Academy's results are low across every tested subject and grade. In math, proficiency rates from the most recent year sit in the single digits or lower across grades three through eight, with several grades reporting no students reaching the proficient threshold. English language arts follows a similar pattern, with only the eighth-grade results showing a somewhat higher share of students meeting proficiency, while the remaining grades remain in the lowest range. Science and social studies results are likewise low. When placed against other Wayne County districts using the county-based comparison set, the school falls in the bottom quartile for overall proficiency. These results are reported and current, and a parent weighing this school may want to look into what academic supports and interventions the school has in place to address them.
Because Henderson Academy does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The absence of that metric reflects the grade band, not a gap in the school's performance. Similarly, participation rates for state testing were not available in the data, so it is not possible to characterize how completely the student body was assessed.
The school's environment data was thin. Information on staffing ratios, course access, discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism was not provided, so there is little here to describe the day-to-day school climate or the range of programs offered beyond the standard curriculum. Title I status was also not reported, though given the high poverty rate among students, the school likely receives some form of federal support; this is an inference from the student demographics rather than a confirmed data point.
Henderson Academy sits within a city that has been undergoing a broadly documented revitalization. Detroit's population grew for two consecutive years as of recently reported estimates, reversing a long decline, with growth attributed to immigration and new housing development. Major projects include the Hudson's site mixed-use development downtown, the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, and continued riverfront expansion. The city's economy remains anchored by the automotive industry and major employers in healthcare, finance, and government. Publicly reported district information indicates that DPSCD has a multi-year facilities improvement plan aimed at renovating and modernizing school buildings, which could affect Henderson's physical environment in coming years, though the specifics for this building were not available.
For a parent evaluating Henderson Academy, the picture from the available data is one of a neighborhood school serving a high-poverty student population in an affordable part of Detroit, with state assessment results that are low relative to county peers. The missing pieces on staffing, programs, discipline, and attendance mean that a full picture of the school's climate and offerings would require direct conversation with the school itself. What the data does show clearly is a school whose students face substantial academic challenges as measured by the state, in a community where housing access is relatively easy to attain and where the broader city is investing in renewal.
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