Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy

The Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy district in Warren, MI, serves two schools—Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy Dequindre (an alternative K-12 school with 573 students) and Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy Lorraine (an elementary PK-6 school with 181 students)—both serving a highly economically disadvantaged population, with nearly all students eligible for free/reduced lunch.

These two campuses have very different profiles. MMSA Lorraine is the smaller, elementary-focused school with a much lower student-teacher ratio (9:1 vs. 13.1:1) and significantly lower chronic absenteeism (29.7% vs. 48.5% at MMSA Dequindre). Lorraine also shows some positive outliers, such as 4th-grade ELA (23.5%) and math (26.5%) proficiency for 2025-2026, both well above the district average. Meanwhile, MMSA Dequindre is the only school with high school grades and posts a graduation rate of 86.4%, slightly above the state average, though its dropout rate (10.8%) and chronic absenteeism are concerning.

The most glaring issue across both schools is a systemic math crisis, with proficiency rates often in the single digits or low teens—for example, 5th-grade math at Dequindre was just 6.98% in 2025-2026, compared to the state average of 32.2%. ELA and science scores also lag state averages, though less severely. Despite spending over $15,000 per student and maintaining favorable class sizes, academic results remain low, suggesting challenges related to extreme poverty are not being fully mitigated. There are bright spots, however: Dequindre's 10th-grade PSAT ELA proficiency (54.3%) approaches the state average, and Lorraine's 5th-grade science showed notable year-over-year improvement. Parents should expect inconsistent grade-level performance due to small cohort sizes, but the elementary campus appears to offer a more stable, supportive environment than the larger alternative campus.