Imlay City Community Schools

Imlay City Community Schools is a small, unified district in Lapeer County, Michigan, serving roughly 1,734 students across four schools: two elementary schools (Borland for grades 3-5 and Weston for PK-2), one middle school, and one high school.

The clear academic leader is Imlay City Middle School, which posts the district's strongest results relative to state averages. Its 8th graders achieve 63.6% proficiency in Social Studies (13 points above the state) and 75% proficiency on the PSAT ELA (10 points above the state). Meanwhile, Imlay City High School is the turnaround story, jumping 93 spots in state ranking in a single year to the 59th percentile. It also boasts a 96.9% graduation rate—nearly 13 points above the state—and a dropout rate of just 2.2%. At the elementary level, Borland Elementary School stands out for its low chronic absenteeism (22.0%, well below the state average) and a remarkable 4th grade math proficiency of 51.9%, a 12.5-point edge over the state. In contrast, Weston Elementary School, serving the youngest students, faces the biggest challenge with a 34.2% chronic absenteeism rate—the highest in the district and 6 points above the state average.

District-wide, math proficiency lags behind ELA at nearly every grade level, with the most glaring gap at the high school where only 20.4% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT math. The 5th grade also shows a sharp drop in math (27.1% vs. 32.2% statewide), suggesting a difficult transition. Despite serving a population where 54-62% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, the district's overall 3-star rating and 60th percentile ranking understate its achievements. Notably, spending does not correlate with outcomes: Weston spends the most per student ($16,772) yet struggles with attendance, while Borland spends the least ($13,904) yet posts the strongest attendance and competitive scores. The high school, with the highest student-teacher ratio (25.1:1), still achieves excellent graduation outcomes, pointing to school culture and instructional quality as key drivers.