Summary:
Timberland Charter Academy is the only school in the Timberland Charter Academy district, serving 613 students in grades PK-8 in Muskegon, Michigan, where 97% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch.
This single charter school faces severe academic challenges, consistently ranking in the bottom 16% of Michigan schools for three straight years. In 2025-2026, proficiency rates lag state averages by 13 to 30 percentage points in English Language Arts and math across grades 3-7. The gaps widen dramatically by 8th grade: PSAT ELA proficiency sits at just 20.7% versus 64.8% statewide, while PSAT math is 5.2% versus 33.2%. The largest disparity appears in 8th grade social studies, where only 10.5% of students are proficient compared to 50.3% statewide—a nearly 40-point gap. Science proficiency in 5th and 8th grades also trails by roughly 30 points. Grade-level performance is inconsistent, with 6th grade ELA proficiency (24.1%) nearly double that of 4th grade (12.3%), and 5th grade math proficiency nearly nonexistent at 5.4%.
Perhaps most concerning is the school's chronic absenteeism rate of 49.4%—nearly double the state average of 27.9%—which undermines any instructional efforts. The school also shows dramatic year-over-year declines, including 4th grade math plummeting from 26.7% to 9.0% and 8th grade science dropping from 32.7% to 12.3%. Despite spending $15,545 per student (notably high for a bottom-quintile school) and maintaining a favorable 14.9:1 student-teacher ratio, outcomes remain persistently low. The data suggests achievement gaps widen as students progress, indicating the school is not closing learning deficits over time. For parents, the priority should be understanding that chronic absenteeism and extreme poverty create significant barriers, and that addressing attendance must precede any hope of academic improvement.
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