Cadillac Area Public Schools

The Cadillac Area Public Schools district serves roughly 3,050 students across six schools in Cadillac, Michigan, including three elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools, and overall ranks in the upper-middle tier of Michigan districts with a 3-star rating.

For parents, the standout school is Forest View Elementary School, the district’s smallest elementary school, which consistently outperforms its peers and state averages—especially in 5th grade math, where 62.2% of students are proficient versus just 28.8% at Franklin Elementary School and 41.1% at Lincoln Elementary School. Forest View also leads in science and social studies, despite serving a similar share of low-income students as its counterparts. Meanwhile, Lincoln Elementary School has shown a dramatic turnaround, climbing from the 35th to 55th percentile in two years despite having the highest poverty rate among elementary schools, while Franklin Elementary School has declined sharply, with a 45.9-point drop in 5th grade math proficiency in a single year.

At the secondary level, Cadillac Senior High School is a strong performer with a 91% graduation rate and SAT reading/writing proficiency 10.8 points above the state, though it shows a notable gap between verbal and math scores. Mackinaw Trail Middle School excels in math, with 7th grade proficiency 22 points above the state average. The district’s biggest challenge is Cadillac Innovation High School, an alternative school with a 57.8% graduation rate, a 33.3:1 student-teacher ratio, and proficiency rates below 22% in most subjects. Chronic absenteeism is also a district-wide concern, particularly at the middle school and Innovation High, though Forest View’s success shows that attendance alone doesn’t determine outcomes.