Westfield Charter Academy, Redford MI

Original Research by School Decision on Westfield Charter Academy

Westfield Charter Academy is a public charter school in Redford Township, Michigan, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. It sits on West Chicago Road in a primarily residential inner-ring suburb of Detroit, a community of postwar single-family homes and commercial strips along arterial roads like Telegraph Road and Grand River Avenue. Redford has no traditional downtown; civic life clusters around the Town Hall complex and the Redford Marquee amphitheater on Six Mile Road, with parks and the district library nearby. The township is car-dependent, with SMART bus service providing regional transit access.

The school enrolls roughly 700 students across its seven grade levels, making it a mid-sized elementary program for the area. Its student body is predominantly African American, with a small share of students identifying as two or more races and trace numbers in other categories. A very large proportion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Westfield among schools serving a high-poverty community. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those population sizes are unknown.

On Michigan's M-STEP assessments, Westfield's results are modest across the board. In English language arts, proficiency rates climb from the low twenties in third grade to around a third of students by fifth grade, then dip again in sixth. Math proficiency hovers in the low twenties for third and fourth grade, rises slightly in fifth, and drops to roughly one in ten by sixth grade. Fifth-grade science lands near a quarter of students proficient, while social studies is lower. Aggregated across tested subjects and grades, Westfield's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint among Wayne County districts, a set that includes a large number of districts and charter operators. These are not results that suggest widespread mastery of grade-level standards. A parent weighing this school may want to look into how the school supports students who are below proficiency and what interventions or tutoring are available.

Because Westfield serves only elementary and early middle grades, there is no graduation rate, no AP or dual-credit data, and no college-readiness measure to report. Those metrics do not apply to a school ending at sixth grade. No program offerings, course-access details, or extracurricular information were included in the data provided, so there is little to describe beyond the core academic program. Staffing, attendance, and discipline data were also absent. The school operates as its own charter district under the same name, and the district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes or strategic initiatives on record.

Housing in the school's zip code is relatively affordable compared with state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the Michigan median and rents similarly moderate. Year-over-year home value growth has been slow, and rents have risen only modestly. This places the area within reach for many families, though it also reflects the broader economic conditions of an older inner-ring suburb that has seen population shifts over recent decades.

What the picture tells a parent is this: Westfield Charter Academy is a community-oriented elementary charter school serving a predominantly African American, high-poverty student population in a suburban Detroit setting where housing is affordable. Its state test results are below the county midpoint, with no grade level showing strong proficiency in math, and ELA results that peak in the middle grades before declining. The school fills a specific niche for families seeking a charter option in Redford, but the academic data suggests a student who attends will likely need supplemental support to reach grade-level benchmarks. Without information on programs, staffing ratios, or special-population services, a family considering enrollment would benefit from asking the school directly about those offerings before deciding.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 421%

School 21% · District 21%

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

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Grade 612%

School 12% · District 12%

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 524%

School 24% · District 24%

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

Social studies

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 11 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolWestfield 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 3Lower-income18%Higher-income36%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income24%Higher-income40%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income25%Higher-income57%32 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income22%Higher-income21%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income20%Higher-income36%16 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income20%Higher-income30%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income29%6 pp gap