The reported proficiency rate for English language arts is 28%.
Original Research by School Decision on Center for Innovation
The Center for Innovation is an alternative school within Lapeer Community Schools, serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade on Millville Road in Lapeer. Its enrollment is small for a building spanning that many grades, and the grade distribution is unusual: the largest concentration sits in twelfth grade, with smaller groups in the early elementary and high school years, and no students in several middle grades. This shape reflects the school's alternative purpose. It is not a traditional comprehensive school, and the student body appears to include both younger learners and a substantial cohort of older students, many of whom may be pursuing a nonstandard path to graduation or a career-focused route. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Hispanic presence and very few students in other racial categories. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available.
State assessment results are limited, and the small number of tested students in each grade makes the figures hard to read with confidence. In math, grades three through five each had proficiency rates reported only as a broad range, with no students scoring proficient in those grades. Grades six and seven had no tested students, so those results were suppressed. In English language arts, the fourth and fifth grade groups showed modest proficiency, with roughly a quarter of tested students meeting the benchmark, while third grade had no proficient scorers. Science and social studies were tested only in fifth grade, and both showed no proficient students. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Lapeer County. These are low results. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, keeping in mind that small tested groups and the alternative setting can produce results that look different from a typical elementary or secondary school. No graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, or civil rights data was available for this school.
The school's clearest strength is its career and technical education mission. The district is undertaking a renovation of the Center for Innovation facility to expand and modernize CTE programs, including construction trades, welding, STEM, and health sciences. The renovation is intended to increase program capacity and update facilities, with completion expected around fall 2025 or fall 2026. The center serves Lapeer students and is open to surrounding districts through schools of choice, which broadens the peer environment beyond the immediate community.
Lapeer itself is the county seat, a small city with a historic downtown organized around the Lapeer County Courthouse, the oldest continuously operating courthouse in Michigan. The downtown core is walkable, with shops, restaurants, and civic buildings on a grid pattern, but the broader city is auto-dependent, with I-69 running east-west to the south and M-24 running north-south through town. Manufacturing firms supplying the automotive industry anchor the local economy, producing gray iron casting, molded plastics, electrical harnesses, and stamping. The city also hosts a large solar energy farm described as the largest east of the Mississippi, and county government is a steady employer. Amtrak's Blue Water line provides daily rail service between Chicago and Port Huron, and the Greater Lapeer Transportation Authority runs local bus service.
Housing in the school's zip code is moderately affordable by national standards, with typical home values sitting below both the state and national benchmarks. Rents are modest relative to local incomes, and the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home is close to the typical rent, meaning the cost difference between buying and renting is small. Home values have been rising at a pace slightly ahead of the state average.
At the district level, Lapeer Community Schools recently passed a narrow bond vote to build a new Lynch Elementary School, the district's first new elementary building in over half a century, with opening expected in fall 2027. A sinking fund millage renewed in late 2022 continues to support building maintenance through 2027. These investments sit alongside the Center for Innovation renovation, pointing to a district actively updating its facilities across both traditional and alternative pathways. For a family considering this school, the CTE focus and the coming facility improvements are the central draws, while the academic proficiency data warrants a direct conversation with the school about what those numbers mean in this particular setting.
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