Original Research by School Decision on Advantage Alternative Program
Advantage Alternative Program is an alternative public school in Hazel Park, Michigan, part of the Hazel Park School District of the City of Hazel Park. It nominally serves kindergarten through twelfth grade, but the enrollment is overwhelmingly concentrated in the upper grades. The largest group by far sits in twelfth grade, with the bulk of the remaining students spread across ninth through eleventh. Elementary and middle-grade enrollment is minimal, with just a handful of students in any given early grade. This is a school designed primarily for students seeking a nontraditional path to graduation, and its population reflects that focus.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller white population and small numbers of Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to substantial economic need within the enrolled population. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available, so those dimensions of the student body remain uncharacterized here.
State assessment results for the most recent year are sparse. Math and English language arts results for grades seven and eight were suppressed because no students were tested in those subjects at this school. For eighth-grade science and social studies, a small group of ten students each sat for the M-STEP, and proficiency fell into a very low reported range, with zero students scoring proficient or above in either subject. Average scale scores were reported for those tests but sit well below where a family would want to see them. These results reflect a tiny testing population in an alternative setting, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how academic progress is measured and supported for students working toward graduation outside the traditional pathway.
No graduation rate was available for this school. Chronic absenteeism data was also missing, and the comparison set placing this school relative to districts in Oakland County could not be computed for proficiency, graduation, or attendance because the underlying values were absent. This is consistent with how alternative schools often sit outside standard accountability measures, though the data does not confirm the specific reason here. Program offerings, course access, staffing, discipline, and attendance details were all absent from the available data, so there is little to report on extracurriculars, counseling, or specialized pathways beyond the alternative structure itself.
Hazel Park is a compact, primarily residential inner-ring suburb of Detroit, bordering the city to the north. Single-family homes on tree-lined streets define the neighborhoods, with commercial activity and civic life clustered along Nine Mile Road, which functions as the central business district. City hall, the public library, the police station, and the post office all sit on the same block at Nine Mile and John R Road. Interstate 75 runs through the city, and a second interstate sits at the northwest corner, creating a busy freeway junction. The most substantial recent development is the conversion of the former Hazel Park Raceway site into warehouse space for an Amazon distribution center, bringing a large commercial and industrial presence into what has historically been a residential community.
Housing in Hazel Park is relatively affordable for Oakland County. Typical home values here sit well below both the state and national benchmarks, and values have declined modestly over the past year. Rents are moderate and have edged upward slightly. The housing stock is split between owner-occupied and renter-occupied units, and the market has seen a recent increase in active and new listings. For a family connected to this school, housing costs in the immediate area are among the more accessible in the county.
One publicly reported feature of the broader Hazel Park community is the Hazel Park Promise Zone, which guarantees resident graduates of Hazel Park Schools a tuition-free path to an associate's degree. For students at an alternative school working toward graduation, that promise could matter quite a bit, though the available data does not describe how Advantage Alternative Program students specifically connect to it.
Who this school fits is a student who needs a different route than a traditional comprehensive school offers. The heavily high-school-aged population, the alternative designation, and the economic profile of the student body together describe a place serving students who may have struggled in or been ill-served by conventional settings. The academic data available is thin and the proficiency picture is weak, but the testing population is so small that the numbers say more about the school's size and purpose than about any individual student's potential. A family considering this school would want to ask directly how the program supports credit recovery, post-graduation planning, and connection to the Promise Zone, since the available data does not speak to those details.
See more original research from School Decision →