Summary:
Greater Heights Academy is a single public elementary school in Flint, Michigan (48504), serving grades K-6 with 188 students, and it operates as its own district, Greater Heights Academy, which ranks in the bottom 10% of Michigan districts.
This school faces severe challenges tied to extreme poverty and attendance. Every single student (100%) qualifies for free or reduced lunch, and the chronic absenteeism rate is a staggering 65.1%—more than double the state average of 27.9%. Because two-thirds of students are regularly missing school, even the school’s above-average spending of $16,355 per student (compared to a typical state range of $12,000-$13,000) cannot translate into strong academic results. Proficiency rates in both English Language Arts (ELA) and math are well below state averages across all grade levels. For example, in the most recent 2025-2026 school year, 4th-grade ELA proficiency was just 12.1% versus the state’s 41.3%, and 6th-grade math was 16% versus the state’s 31.9%.
Despite these persistent struggles, there is a notable sign of progress. Between the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years, the school jumped from the 2nd percentile (0 stars) to the 14th percentile (1 star) in state rankings—a leap of 185 positions. Specific gains include 5th-grade ELA rising from 8.82% to 21.43% proficiency and 3rd-grade math more than doubling from 11.1% to 25%. The school also shows a U-shaped pattern in ELA, where 4th grade dips (12.1%) but 5th and 6th grades recover to around 20-21%. While these improvements are encouraging, the school remains low-performing, and the root cause of chronic absenteeism must be addressed for sustained success. Parents should know that while the school is investing heavily in its students, the overwhelming obstacles of poverty and missing school days continue to hold back academic achievement.
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