Summary:
Lake Superior Academy is the sole elementary school in the Lake Superior Academy district, serving 93 students in grades K-5 in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.
For parents considering this school, the most important takeaway is that Lake Superior Academy offers a very small, close-knit learning environment, but academic results are mixed and heavily influenced by attendance challenges. The school ranks in the 40th percentile statewide (2 stars), placing it in the lower-middle range of Michigan elementary schools. A significant concern is the chronic absenteeism rate of 27.9% — meaning more than one in four students miss enough school to hurt their learning. This likely contributes to the troubling decline in 3rd grade English Language Arts proficiency, which dropped from 31.6% to just 14.29% over the past year, far below the state average of 38.2%. Math proficiency data is limited, but 4th grade math (33.3%) also trails the state (39.4%).
However, there are bright spots. The current 4th grade cohort performs above the state average in ELA (46.7% vs. 41.3%), and 5th graders are near state averages in science (36.4% vs. 40%) and social studies (27.3% vs. 27.5%). This suggests that students who stay consistently enrolled may build stronger skills by upper elementary. The school also has a moderate economic need level (42% free/reduced lunch) and spends $10,576 per student, though its student-teacher ratio of 20.6:1 is high for an elementary school. Because grade-level cohorts are tiny (roughly 15-16 students per grade), test scores can swing dramatically from year to year based on just a few students. For parents, the key priorities should be understanding the attendance culture and asking how the school supports early literacy, since 3rd grade performance is the weakest area and shows a sharp downward trend.
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