The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in English language arts. The lowest is 26% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Algonac Juniorsenior High School
Algonac Junior/Senior High School sits in Clay Township, a waterfront community at the mouth of the St. Clair River where it meets Lake St. Clair. The township surrounds the small incorporated city of Algonac, which serves as the nearest commercial center, and extends across mainland roads, canal-front properties, farmland, and islands reachable only by ferry. It is a car-dependent place with minimal walkability and no traditional downtown of its own. Publicly reported sources describe a community oriented toward boating, marinas, and waterfront recreation rather than commerce or industry, with civic anchors like Algonac State Park and the St. Clair Flats State Wildlife Area nearby. The township's population has been contracting rather than growing, and local code enforcement records point to property maintenance challenges rather than development pressure. Housing here is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks, with a typical home value below the Michigan median and well below the national figure. Year-over-year appreciation has been modest.
The school is a regular public school serving grades seven through twelve, part of Algonac Community School District. Its enrollment is moderate for a combined secondary school, and the student body is predominantly white. Nearly half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and special education populations was not available, so those shares cannot be characterized here. No information on course offerings, AP or dual-credit pathways, career programs, staffing ratios, or discipline was provided, and a parent would want to ask the school directly about what academic and extracurricular options exist beyond what state testing captures.
On Michigan's state assessments, the school shows a split picture. In seventh grade, proficiency in math is low, with roughly a quarter of tested students reaching the proficient threshold, and ELA is somewhat stronger but still below what most parents would hope to see. The eighth-grade results tell a more interesting story. ELA proficiency jumps sharply, with most tested students clearing the proficient bar on the PSAT-based assessment. Math in eighth grade, though, remains low, consistent with the seventh-grade result. Science proficiency in eighth grade sits in the middle range, and social studies is lower. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index lands below the midpoint among districts in St. Clair County, placing it in the lower half of its local peer set but not at the bottom.
The contrast between strong eighth-grade ELA and weak math across both tested grades is the clearest pattern in the data. A parent whose child reads and writes well may find the school supports that trajectory, while the math results suggest a closer conversation with the school about how instruction and support are structured in that subject. Because no multi-year trend data was available, it is hard to say whether these proficiency levels are improving, stable, or slipping. Participation rates were also missing from the data, so it is unclear whether all eligible students were tested.
Several important pieces of information were not available. No graduation rate was reported for this school in the data provided. No chronic absenteeism figures were included. No SAT or ACT results for the high school grades appeared, which means the academic picture here is built entirely from seventh and eighth grade state tests. Michigan does not test high school grades through the M-STEP system in the same way, so the absence of those results partly reflects the assessment structure, but the lack of a reported graduation rate or college-readiness metric leaves a gap a parent should fill by contacting the district directly. No data on program offerings, advanced coursework, or career pathways was provided either.
For a family considering this area, the housing is affordable by statewide standards, and the setting is quiet and recreational, oriented around water and open land rather than sidewalks and commerce. The school draws from a community that is small, homogeneous, and not growing. The academic evidence points to a school where English language arts is a relative bright spot and math is a soft spot, with overall proficiency below the middle of the St. Clair County pack. The high school years are largely unaccounted for in the available data, so visiting the school and asking about graduation rates, course offerings, and post-secondary pathways would be an essential next step before deciding whether this is the right fit.
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