Summary:
Jalen Rose Leadership Academy is a single public charter high school in Detroit, MI, serving grades 9-12 with 420 students, and it operates as its own district, the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy district.
For parents considering this school, the most important takeaway is that it excels at keeping students on track to graduate despite serving a very high-need population—92% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The school’s graduation rate of 87.1% is above the state average of 84.0%, and its dropout rate of 5.1% is below the state’s 7.1%. This suggests the school provides strong support and structure to help students finish high school. However, academic proficiency is a major concern. Test scores are dramatically below state averages in every subject and grade level. For example, only 6.4% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT math, compared to 26.5% statewide, and 9th grade reading proficiency is 24.5% versus 60.2% statewide. The school’s state ranking reflects this, placing it in the bottom 15% of Michigan high schools, though it has improved from the 8th to the 15th percentile over three years.
There are some positive signs. Between the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years, proficiency improved in science (9.1% to 13.0%), social studies (19.2% to 23.4%), and SAT reading/writing (31.0% to 38.5%), suggesting instructional efforts may be gaining traction. Still, chronic absenteeism is a serious barrier—39.7% of students are chronically absent, nearly 12 points above the state average. With a 21:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $13,642, the school has resources but may not be translating them into smaller classes. The most urgent challenges are math proficiency (under 10% at every grade level), reducing absenteeism, and providing early literacy support for incoming 9th graders, who arrive already far behind state averages.
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