Summary:
Regent Park Scholars Charter Academy is a single K-8 charter school in Detroit, MI, serving 707 students in a high-poverty urban area where nearly all students (98.73%) qualify for free or reduced lunch.
This school faces significant challenges, but there are signs of gradual improvement. The school’s overall state ranking has climbed from the 14th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 23rd percentile in 2025-2026, though it still holds a 1-star rating and ranks 1,145th out of 1,492 Michigan schools. The most pressing issue is chronic absenteeism: 58.6% of students are chronically absent, more than double the state average of 27.9%. This directly impacts learning, as academic proficiency in every subject and grade lags well behind state averages. For example, 5th-grade ELA proficiency is just 10.8% versus the state’s 43.8%, and 5th-grade science proficiency is only 9.3% compared to the state’s 40%. Even the strongest results—3rd-grade ELA at 32.1% and 4th-grade math at 30%—remain far below state benchmarks. On the 8th-grade PSAT, only 40.6% are on track in ELA and 20.3% in math, versus state averages of 64.8% and 33.2%.
There are a few bright spots worth noting. Third-grade proficiency is the highest among all grade levels in both ELA and math, suggesting early interventions may be taking hold. Also, year-over-year data shows dramatic swings—4th-grade math jumped from 9.8% to 30% in one year—indicating that outcomes are highly sensitive to specific student cohorts. The school spends a relatively high $14,100 per student with a 16.5:1 student-teacher ratio, yet money alone hasn’t solved the achievement gap. For parents, the key takeaway is that this school serves an extremely vulnerable population, and its biggest barrier to success is getting students to school consistently. While academic results are low, the upward trend in rankings and the relative strength of early grades offer cautious hope for future progress.
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