Summary:
George Washington Carver Middle School is the sole middle school within the George Washington Carver Academy district in Highland Park, MI, serving grades 5 through 8 with 155 students in a community marked by extreme economic disadvantage.
For parents considering this school, the most important context is that nearly every student (99.35%) qualifies for free or reduced lunch, and the district ranks in the bottom 1% of Michigan districts. Academically, proficiency rates on state assessments are far below state averages in nearly every subject and grade. For example, in the 2025-2026 school year, only 11.8% of 5th graders were proficient in ELA compared to the state’s 43.8%, and 7th grade ELA proficiency was just 8.57% versus the state’s 38.4%. The one bright spot appears in 5th grade Social Studies from the 2024-2025 school year, where students achieved 28.1% proficiency, nearly matching the state average of 29.8%—a remarkable outlier that suggests a potential instructional strength worth investigating. Additionally, 8th graders performed notably better on the PSAT ELA exam (35.5% proficient in 2025-2026) than younger students did on M-Step ELA, which may reflect a targeted focus on PSAT preparation or differences in test rigor.
The school’s trajectory is concerning, however. Its state percentile ranking dropped from the 15th percentile in 2024-2025 to the 5th percentile in 2025-2026, with year-over-year declines in 5th grade ELA (18.8% to 11.8%) and 8th grade PSAT ELA (45.7% to 35.5%). Chronic absenteeism affects 35.8% of students—higher than the state’s 27.9%—and is likely a primary barrier to learning. While the student-to-teacher ratio of 12.8 is favorable and could allow for more individualized attention, this potential advantage is overshadowed by the profound poverty and attendance challenges. Parents should understand that academic struggles here are deeply tied to socio-economic factors, and meaningful improvement will likely require comprehensive support addressing both in-school instruction and out-of-school barriers.
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