The Light Bearer

How Black students are performing in Michigan schools

In Michigan, 19.5% of Black students are proficient in math at the typical school — against 41.7% of White students. Within Saginaw alone, the gap between the best and worst schools is 61 points. This tool helps you find the right one.

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30.5%
All students
24.6%
Black
35.3%
Hispanic
44.2%
White
59.8%
Asian

Share of students meeting proficient at the typical Michigan school. Groups are shown wherever Michigan reports them; a group is omitted from a school when too few students were tested to report safely.

These figures come from M-STEP 2025, measuring proficient in ELA & Math · Grades 3–8. Across 246 districts, 754 Michigan schools report enough results to be included.

At the typical Michigan school the picture is black students at 24.6%, hispanic students at 35.3%, white students at 44.2% and asian students at 59.8%. That is a 35.2-point spread between the highest and lowest group, inside the same schools, the same districts and the same state — which is what this tool exists to make visible.

What the Michigan data shows

Landscape
11.5 %

of Black students in Michigan are proficient in math

Fewer than one in eight. White students reach 42.2%. No Michigan school has 80% of its Black students proficient, and only five reach 60%.

Disparity
61.2 pts

gap between the best and worst schools for Black students in Saginaw

Handley School reaches 65.3%. Saginaw Middle School, in the same district, sits at 4.1%. Across 10 schools in one district, a child's address decides which end they land on.

Opportunity
64.5 %

at Bates Academy in Detroit, across 1,007 Black student results

The largest Black student population of any high-performing school here, in a district often written off. Bates is proof the ceiling is not fixed.

Where Black students are doing best in Michigan

These are the schools where Black students most often meet proficient, among those with at least 25 Black student results reported. Every group's result is shown alongside, because a school that serves one group well and another poorly is telling you something too.

SchoolAllBlackHispanicWhiteAsian
Handley SchoolSaginaw, School District of the City of Magnet 81% 65.3% 63.6%
Bates AcademyDetroit Public Schools Community District 64.5% 64.5%
Pembroke AcademyPembroke Academy Charter 63.1% 64%
South Arbor Charter AcademySouth Arbor Charter Academy Charter 71.5% 62.5% 69.3% 82.1%
Plymouth Scholars Charter AcademyPlymouth Scholars Charter Academy Charter 81.4% 60.5% 75.6% 87%
Vanguard Charter AcademyVanguard Charter Academy Charter 61.8% 59.4% 49.1% 72.9%
Cross Creek Charter AcademyCross Creek Charter Academy Charter 72.5% 58% 47.6% 78.1% 72.7%
Saginaw Arts and Sciences AcademySaginaw, School District of the City of Magnet 75.6% 57.7% 75.7%
University Elementary School AcademySouthfield Public School District Magnet 56.9% 56.6%
Achieve Charter AcademyAchieve Charter Academy Charter 72.9% 54.4% 70.4% 83.2%

Flags show magnet, charter, alternative and virtual schools. Some campuses — early college and specialized academies among them — also admit by application, and this page cannot yet identify all of them. Check with the district before assuming a school is open to your address.

Where Black students are struggling most

The same measure at the other end of the range. In many of these schools every group is falling short, which points at the school rather than at the students in it.

SchoolAllBlackHispanicWhiteAsian
SAGINAW MIDDLE SCHOOLSaginaw, School District of the City of Sped 6.5% 4.1%
Eastpointe Middle SchoolEastpointe Community Schools 5.3% 4.4%
Martin G. Atkins Elementary SchoolBridgeport-Spaulding Community School District 6.3% 6.5% 35.7%
Ronald Brown AcademyDetroit Public Schools Community District 6.4% 6.6%
Martin Luther King Jr. ElementaryBenton Harbor Area Schools 7.1% 7%
Coleman A. Young Elementary SchoolDetroit Public Schools Community District 7.1% 7.1%
Ann Visger K-5 Preparatory AcademyRiver Rouge, School District of the City of 8.1% 7.7%
Riverside Middle SchoolGrand Rapids Public Schools 8.9% 7.7%
Old Redford Academy - ElementaryOld Redford Academy MagnetCharter 8.3% 8%
Fisher Magnet AcademyDetroit Public Schools Community District 7.7% 8.1%

One district, two outcomes

In Saginaw, School District of the City of, Handley School reports 65.3% of Black students meeting the standard. SAGINAW MIDDLE SCHOOL, in the same district, reports 4.1%. That is a 61.2-point spread across 10 schools under one administration, serving one community, funded by one tax base — the clearest illustration of why address matters more than it should.

Michigan districts

Districts with at least ten schools reporting Black student results, by school count. The percentage shown is the average across that district's schools for Black students.

Detroit Public Schools Community District — 67 schools, 18.2% average
Kalamazoo Public Schools — 18 schools, 16.3% average
Kentwood Public Schools — 12 schools, 25.3% average
Farmington Public School District — 11 schools, 30.1% average
Lansing Public School District — 11 schools, 19.6% average
Wayne-Westland Community School District — 11 schools, 14.8% average
Plymouth-Canton Community Schools — 10 schools, 31.9% average
Saginaw, School District of the City of — 10 schools, 25% average
Warren Consolidated Schools — 10 schools, 28.5% average
Grand Rapids Public Schools — 9 schools, 21.1% average
L'Anse Creuse Public Schools — 9 schools, 25.6% average
Chippewa Valley Schools — 8 schools, 28.5% average
Roseville Community Schools — 8 schools, 21.7% average
Southfield Public School District — 8 schools, 28.4% average
Ann Arbor Public Schools — 7 schools, 27% average
Livonia Public Schools School District — 7 schools, 33.2% average
Utica Community Schools — 7 schools, 34.2% average
Van Buren Public Schools — 6 schools, 23.1% average
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools — 6 schools, 29.6% average
Carman-Ainsworth Community Schools — 5 schools, 21.9% average
Fraser Public Schools — 5 schools, 32.5% average
Grand Blanc Community Schools — 5 schools, 29.6% average
Pontiac City School District — 5 schools, 14.8% average
Romulus Community Schools — 5 schools, 29.2% average
South Redford School District — 5 schools, 21.3% average
Taylor School District — 5 schools, 18.1% average
Woodhaven-Brownstown School District — 5 schools, 29.7% average
Ypsilanti Community Schools — 5 schools, 19.5% average
Avondale School District — 4 schools, 24.3% average
Eastpointe Community Schools — 4 schools, 11.9% average
Hazel Park, School District of the City of — 4 schools, 12.4% average
Lakeview Public Schools (Macomb) — 4 schools, 29.9% average
Lincoln Park, School District of the City of — 4 schools, 24.2% average
Muskegon, Public Schools of the City of — 4 schools, 11.7% average
Oak Park, School District of the City of — 4 schools, 11.6% average
Van Dyke Public Schools — 4 schools, 16.1% average
Warren Woods Public Schools — 4 schools, 26.2% average
Waverly Community Schools — 4 schools, 16.8% average
West Bloomfield School District — 4 schools, 28.4% average
Battle Creek Public Schools — 3 schools, 16.9% average
How these averages are calculated. The figures above average across Michigan schools, giving each school equal weight. They describe the typical school, not the state's tested population, and will differ from the headline figure M-STEP 2025 publishes — that one weights every student equally, so larger schools count for more. Use the state's own published figure when citing a statewide number.

How to read the school data. Michigan suppresses results for groups with too few students tested. Schools without a reportable Black student result are excluded rather than shown as zero — 754 of Michigan's schools have reportable data. Coverage is grades 3–8; high schools are not included. This ranking reflects the 2024–25 administration, grades 3–8. Results are refreshed annually as new data is published. Because every state sets its own proficiency standard, Michigan's figures should not be compared directly against another state's.

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