Summary:
George Washington Carver Elementary School is the only elementary school in the George Washington Carver Academy district, serving grades PK through 4 in Highland Park, MI, with 217 students.
This school faces severe academic challenges. In the 2025-2026 school year, only 8.89% of 3rd graders and 7.69% of 4th graders were proficient in English Language Arts, while 13.3% of 3rd graders were proficient in math. These rates are dramatically below Michigan state averages (38.2%, 41.3%, and 42.9%, respectively). The school ranks in the bottom 2% of all Michigan elementary schools (1466 out of 1492), a position it has held consistently since at least 2017-2018. Perhaps most concerning is the chronic absenteeism rate of 67.5% for the 2024-2025 school year—more than double the state average of 27.9% and well above the district's own 54.6%. With two-thirds of students regularly missing school, meaningful academic progress becomes nearly impossible.
Financially, the school spends a substantial $29,562 per student, which is exceptionally high and suggests funding is not the primary obstacle. However, this investment is not translating into achievement. The student body is almost entirely economically disadvantaged (99.54% eligible for free/reduced lunch), reflecting concentrated poverty that often brings additional challenges beyond the classroom. On a positive note, the student-teacher ratio is a favorable 14.7:1, indicating relatively small class sizes. Yet this structural advantage has not been leveraged to overcome the other hurdles. The 4th-grade ELA proficiency even dropped from 12.5% in 2024-2025 to 7.69% in 2025-2026, suggesting a possible decline rather than improvement. For parents considering this school, the combination of very low test scores, extreme absenteeism, and persistent bottom-tier ranking over many years paints a picture of a school in crisis, despite its ample per-student funding and manageable class sizes.
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