Summary:
North Star Montessori Academy is a single public charter school in Marquette, Michigan, serving grades PK-8 with 145 students, and it operates as its own district, meaning the North Star Montessori Academy district metrics mirror the school’s own performance.
This school offers a distinctive educational environment with a very low 9.6:1 student-teacher ratio and above-average per-student spending of $16,714, reflecting a strong investment in small class sizes. Academically, the school has stabilized at the 58th percentile in Michigan’s state rankings over the past two years, after a notable drop from the 67th percentile in 2023-24. The strongest results appear in the middle grades: 6th graders outperform state averages by 17.1 points in ELA and 13.6 points in math, and 8th graders post an impressive 76.9% proficiency on the PSAT ELA, which is 12.1 points above the state. However, performance is uneven, with 5th-grade scores showing dramatic year-over-year declines of 25-35 points across all subjects—likely due to very small cohorts where a few students can shift percentages significantly. The school also shows relative weakness in science, particularly at the 5th-grade level, where proficiency trails the state by 8.7 points.
The most pressing concern is chronic absenteeism, which stands at 48%—nearly double the state average of 27.9%. This affects roughly 70 students and likely contributes to inconsistent academic outcomes. For parents, the data suggests that students who attend regularly and reach the middle grades tend to perform well, especially in literacy. The reported graduation and dropout rates are unreliable for a PK-8 school, as they reflect transitions after 8th grade rather than true high school completion. Overall, this is a school with strong structural supports and notable middle-grade successes, but families should weigh the absenteeism challenge and the volatility that comes with a very small student body.
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