The top reported proficiency rate is 21% in English language arts. The lowest is 3% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Oak Park Preparatory Academy
Oak Park Preparatory Academy is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight in the School District of the City of Oak Park, an inner-ring suburb of Detroit in Oakland County. The school sits on Scotia Road in a dense, post-World War II suburban community laid out on a grid of mile roads. Oak Park borders Detroit at Eight Mile Road to the south and stretches to Eleven Mile to the north, with the Reuther Freeway running along its northern edge. The city describes itself as business-minded and family-centered, with a FedEx distribution center and the WeatherGard window manufacturing headquarters among its major employers. Public amenities include a community center, library, municipal pool, ice arena, and Shepherd Park, which hosts seasonal events like Summerfest and Winterfest. The housing market in the school's zip code sits well below both the state and national benchmarks for typical home values, and rents are similarly modest, making this one of the more affordable corners of Oakland County for families.
The enrollment is approximately what you would expect for a middle school serving three grade levels, and the student body is overwhelmingly Black. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding community. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here.
State assessment results from the most recent school year show a clear pattern. In mathematics, proficiency is very low across all three grade levels, with only a handful of students meeting the state standard in each grade. English language arts tells a more mixed story: sixth-grade proficiency is low, seventh-grade rises somewhat, and by eighth grade a meaningfully larger share of students reach proficiency, suggesting some students build traction in literacy as they move through the school. Science and social studies, both tested in eighth grade, show low proficiency as well. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Oakland County, a set that includes fifty districts. This is a stark positioning, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking what interventions and supports are in place and how the school plans to strengthen instruction in mathematics especially.
Because Oak Park Preparatory Academy is a middle school, it has no graduation rate to report. That metric applies to high schools. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available for this school, so attendance patterns could not be assessed. No civil-rights data, course-access information, staffing figures, discipline data, or program offerings were provided, which means the picture of student support and enrichment is incomplete here. The school does not appear in any specialized program data, so whether it offers advanced coursework, dual-language programs, or career exploration cannot be confirmed from the available information.
The district brief turned up no recent property-tax, curriculum, pedagogy, or referendum changes with lasting parent impact. We searched for the district's strategic priorities but found little, so we left it out rather than guess.
Oak Park itself has seen a slight population decline since the last census, though it remains a dense, established suburb with active civic life. The broader Oakland County housing market shows healthy inventory movement, with homes typically selling in a little over a month and listing prices holding relatively steady year over year. For families considering this school, the area offers affordability and proximity to Detroit and neighboring communities like Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, and Ferndale, along with public recreation and community events throughout the year. The academic data, though, points to real challenges, particularly in mathematics, and families would want to have direct conversations with school leadership about how the school is working to move those numbers.
See more original research from School Decision →