Original Research by School Decision on Great Lakes Online Education
Great Lakes Online Education is a regular public school operated by Crawford AuSable Schools, serving kindergarten through twelfth grade from an address on North Old 27 in Grayling. It is an online education program, which means students learn remotely rather than in a traditional classroom building. The enrollment is small, with the largest concentration of students in the high school grades and only a handful of children in each elementary grade. The student body is almost entirely white, and a very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions of the surrounding community. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available.
State assessment results were not available for this school. Every tested grade and subject shows suppressed proficiency data, with zero students tested in each category. This pattern is common for very small schools where the number of students in a given grade is too low to produce reportable results, so a parent should not read the missing data as a sign of poor performance. It does mean, though, that there is no public evidence from state testing to characterize how students here are doing academically. A parent considering this option may want to ask the school directly about how it measures student progress and what academic supports it provides in an online format. Graduation rate data was also not available, and no chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, or staffing information was reported. No program offerings were listed.
The comparison set for this school is relative to districts in Crawford County, which contains only a single district. With no proficiency index, graduation rate, or attendance data for this entity, no comparative positioning could be computed. The school sits inside a county-wide district with no neighboring districts for contrast.
Grayling is a small city and the county seat of Crawford County, the only incorporated community in the county. It sits at the junction of Interstate 75 and several state and federal highways, making it a crossroads town in Northern Michigan. The Au Sable River runs through the center of town, and the community has built its identity around outdoor recreation, billing itself as the Canoe Capital of the World. Canoe liveries, fly fishing, and seasonal tourism drive much of the local economy. Hanson Hills offers downhill skiing, Nordic trails, mountain biking, and disc golf. Hartwick Pines State Park and the Huron-Manistee National Forests are nearby. The downtown along Michigan Avenue has an active Main Street program, though the town is car-dependent for most daily needs.
The dominant economic presence is Camp Grayling, the largest National Guard training facility in the country, located southwest of the city. Publicly reported information notes that the base was designated in early 2026 as a national range for uncrewed aerial systems testing, which could expand its role and bring additional defense-related activity. Tourism and outdoor recreation round out the employment picture. The town's population has been flat to slightly declining over recent decades, and the local visitors bureau describes it as having retained a small-town character rather than expanding.
Housing in the Grayling zip code is affordable compared with state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the Michigan median and considerably below the national median, and the price-to-income ratio is moderate. Rent data was not available. For families already in the area or those drawn to the region's outdoor lifestyle and lower cost of living, the housing market is relatively accessible.
This is a very small online school in a rural Northern Michigan community with limited publicly available academic data. The online format may suit families seeking flexibility or those for whom the traditional school setting is not a fit, but the absence of testing results, graduation rates, and program details means parents will need to go directly to the school to understand what the academic experience looks like and what support structures are in place. The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes of lasting impact, so there is little to report on recent shifts in direction or priorities.
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