Summary:
The Burr Oak Community School District contains just one high school, Burr Oak High School, serving grades 9-12 in a small, rural Michigan community with a total enrollment of only 85 students.
Burr Oak High School is a very small school facing significant challenges. Three-quarters of its students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high-poverty population. Academic proficiency is low across all subjects, with the school consistently ranking in the bottom 20th percentile statewide and earning a 1-star rating for three consecutive years. For example, only 23.1% of 11th graders are proficient in social studies and just 20% in science, compared to state averages of 43.2% and 34.9%, respectively. The most striking academic finding is a dramatic drop in English Language Arts proficiency from 50% in 9th grade to just 23.3% in 10th grade—a decline of nearly 27 percentage points that warrants investigation into curriculum alignment and support for that grade level.
Chronic absenteeism is a critical issue, with 35.6% of students missing significant instructional time versus the state average of 27.9%. The graduation rate of 78.5% is below the state's 84.0%, though the dropout rate matches the state average at 7.1%. Interestingly, the school outperforms its own district averages in science (20% vs. 9.7%) and social studies (20% vs. 12.9%), suggesting it is a relative bright spot within the broader district. The school spends a relatively high $15,293 per student yet maintains a high 25.9:1 student-teacher ratio, likely because fixed costs for a tiny rural school consume much of the budget. With only about 21 students per grade, all metrics are subject to high year-to-year volatility, meaning small improvements in individual student outcomes could meaningfully shift the school's overall performance.
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