The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in English language arts. The lowest is 26% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Great Expectations
Great Expectations is a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school in Grand Marais, a small harbor town on Lake Superior’s North Shore that serves as the county seat of Cook County. It is a regular public school operating under a charter, and it is the only school in its own single-school district. Because it does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report.
The school sits in a town whose economy is built on tourism, the arts, and county government. Grand Marais is a gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and its compact downtown features the Grand Marais Art Colony, the North House Folk School, and multiple galleries. The population has been stable in recent years, and housing values in the area are above the national median. The 2020 downtown fire destroyed several buildings, but no major new development or enrollment growth was identified in available records.
The student body is small and predominantly white, with a modest share of students from American Indian or multiracial backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Because Great Expectations is a charter school, families choose to enroll here rather than in the area’s other public options.
On state assessments, the school’s reading results are a clear strength. Across tested grades, a solid majority of students met proficiency standards, with several grade-level groups showing strong performance. Math results show more variation. Early elementary grades performed well, but proficiency rates dropped in the upper grades, with a notable soft spot in fifth grade and again in eighth grade. Science results, available for fifth and eighth graders, were below what the reading scores would lead a parent to expect, and a parent may want to ask about the science curriculum and how the school supports students in that subject. The state changed both the assessment name and the cut scores for science in the most recent year, so direct comparisons to prior years are not possible.
The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, places it in the top quartile among Cook County’s districts. With only four districts in the county, that position is at the upper end. The comparison is a narrow one, but within this local context, Great Expectations stands out on overall academic performance.
Because this is a charter school that serves only kindergarten through eighth grade, there are no high-school-level program offerings such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, or career and technical education pathways. The school’s academic program is focused on the elementary and middle school years. Chronic absenteeism data and special education counts were not available in the data provided, and a parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance patterns and how students with disabilities are supported. No information was found about recent curriculum changes, referendums, or other district-level shifts, likely because this is a single, small charter school without the same kind of public district governance.
For a family considering Great Expectations, the picture is one of a small, choice-based school in a remote but culturally rich Lake Superior town. The reading program appears to be working well. The math and science results are more uneven, and a parent should feel comfortable asking how the school addresses those gaps, especially in the middle grades. The school does not feed into its own high school, so families will need to plan for the transition to high school elsewhere, likely Cook County School District or another option. The housing market in Grand Marais is above the national average, and the town’s economy is tied to tourism and seasonal work, factors that may shape a family’s longer-term plans.
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