The top reported proficiency rate is 38% in Social studies. The lowest is 31% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Big Bay De Noc School
Big Bay De Noc School is a single-building public school serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in Cooks, a small unincorporated community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The school sits along the Canadian National Railway line north of U.S. Route 2, surrounded by mixed northern hardwood and conifer forest near the Hiawatha National Forest. Cooks has no traditional downtown, no pedestrian infrastructure, and limited commercial activity. The community was built around lumber and the railroad, and as those industries faded, the population has gradually contracted. The area skews older, with a higher proportion of seniors than working-age residents, and no major employers beyond the school district itself. Residents who need broader services or work likely commute toward Manistique to the east.
The school's enrollment is small, with only a handful of students per grade. Over half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The racial and ethnic mix is predominantly white, with a substantial American Indian and Alaska Native presence and a meaningful share of students identifying as two or more races. The school does not report data on English learners or students with individualized education programs, so those figures are absent from what was available.
On Michigan's M-STEP assessments for the most recent school year, proficiency varies widely from grade to grade. Third-grade math and fifth-grade social studies stand out as relative bright spots, with about half of tested students reaching proficiency. Seventh-grade results in both math and English language arts are also comparatively strong. Other grades paint a softer picture. Fourth-grade math, sixth-grade math, and several elementary ELA grades show lower proficiency rates. Fifth-grade and eighth-grade math results were reported only as ranges, with zero proficient students recorded, though the small tested counts in each grade mean a single student shifts the picture considerably. Science and social studies results for eighth grade are also on the lower end. Averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency sits below the midpoint among districts in Delta County, though it is not at the bottom of that small cohort.
The wide grade-to-grade swings are partly a function of tiny cohort sizes. When a grade has only a dozen or so test-takers, one or two students moving above or below the proficiency line moves the rate dramatically. This is the reality of a small rural school, and a parent reading these results should keep that context in mind rather than treating any single grade's rate as a stable indicator.
No graduation rate was reported for this school, and no chronic absenteeism figure was available. The absence of a graduation rate may reflect the school's small senior class size or reporting thresholds, but the data provided does not give a specific reason. A parent looking for clarity on how students fare through high school would want to ask the school directly. No data on advanced course offerings, career pathways, dual enrollment, or extracurricular programs was provided, so those aspects cannot be characterized here. Staffing ratios, discipline data, and course access information were also absent from what was available.
The housing market around Cooks is inexpensive compared with both state and national benchmarks, and the area has seen a recent surge in home values, though prices remain modest in absolute terms. Mortgage payments on a typical home are manageable relative to national median income figures, though local incomes in this rural community may differ from the national picture. No rental data was available for the immediate area.
For a family considering this school, the core tradeoff is intimacy against breadth. A child here will be known by every teacher in the building, will stay in one school from pre-kindergarten through graduation, and will grow up alongside the same cohort of peers in a quiet, forested corner of the Upper Peninsula. What the school offers in closeness and continuity, it may not match in the range of specialized courses, activities, or academic supports available at larger districts. The assessment data, while uneven, suggests some grades are performing well and others are struggling, and a parent would do well to ask the school how it supports students in the grades where results are weaker and what the graduating class's postsecondary outcomes look like.
See more original research from School Decision →