The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in English language arts. The lowest is 48% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Pembroke Academy
Pembroke Academy is a charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade on Detroit's west side, on Mansfield Street in the 48235 zip code. It is a small school for its grade band, with enrollment concentrated heavily in the early grades. Kindergarten is the largest cohort by far, and the numbers taper steadily through middle school, with only a handful of students in the upper grades. The student body is overwhelmingly Black, and nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not report IEP or English-learner counts, so those population figures are not available here.
The academic results are the strongest part of this school's profile. On Michigan's M-STEP assessments, proficiency rates in math run well above what is typical for Wayne County, with the majority of tested students scoring proficient or above in grades three through six. English language arts results are even more striking, with proficiency climbing sharply in the upper elementary grades. Fifth and sixth grade ELA proficiency rates are especially high, well into the range that distinguishes this school from most of its peers. Science results in fifth grade are solid, and social studies in fifth grade is the one area where proficiency dips below the halfway mark, though the cut-score criteria for that subject changed this year, which limits comparison. Seventh and eighth grade results are reported as ranges rather than precise figures, reflecting the very small testing pools in those grades, but the ranges sit at or above the midpoint. Across all tested subjects and grades, Pembroke Academy places in the top quartile among districts in Wayne County for overall proficiency.
The school's academic standing earned public recognition. Pembroke Academy was named a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education, with the specific distinction of Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing School. Publicly reported sources note it is only the fourth Detroit elementary school to receive this honor. That designation aligns with what the assessment data shows: a school serving an almost entirely low-income, predominantly Black student population producing proficiency rates well above county norms.
Because Pembroke Academy stops at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and that metric does not apply here. Chronic absenteeism data was not available, and the school does not report discipline, course access, staffing, or attendance figures in the data provided, so those dimensions of school climate are gaps a parent may want to ask about directly.
The housing market around the school is affordable by almost any standard. Typical home values in this zip code sit well below both the state and national benchmarks, and rents are modest. Home values have declined modestly year over year, while rents have ticked upward. For families considering the neighborhood, this is an area where homeownership is relatively accessible but where property values have not been appreciating.
Detroit itself is a city in a period of measured change. After decades of population loss, the city has posted two consecutive years of growth, driven by immigration and new housing development, with revitalization concentrated in areas like Midtown, Corktown, and the East Riverfront. The school sits in a residential section of the city, away from the downtown core where civic institutions and major employers cluster. Walkability in this part of Detroit is limited, and daily life here is car-dependent in a way that downtown and Midtown are not.
For a parent, the picture at Pembroke Academy is fairly clear. This is a small charter school with a distinct academic identity, producing strong proficiency results in a setting where nearly all students come from low-income households. The Blue Ribbon designation reinforces what the test data shows. The thin enrollment in the upper grades means middle school cohorts are very small, which some families will see as intimate and others as limited in peer range. The gaps in climate and staffing data are worth asking the school about, but the academic evidence that is available points to a school doing well at its core work.
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