High Schools in North Central Area Schools

North Central Area Senior High School is the sole high school in the North Central Area Schools district, serving grades 9-12 in the rural community of Powers, Michigan, with a small enrollment of 100 students.

This small school offers a personalized learning environment with a 13.7:1 student-teacher ratio and a high per-student investment of $17,859. Academically, the school shows a clear split: students perform well above state averages in English Language Arts, science, and social studies. For example, 11th graders scored 57.7% proficient in science (vs. 35.2% statewide) and 73.5% of 10th graders met PSAT ELA benchmarks (vs. 58% statewide). However, math proficiency is critically low—only 12.5-14.7% of 9th and 10th graders meet PSAT math standards, a 17-21 point gap below state averages. The school’s state ranking has declined sharply from 70th (2023-2024) to 258th (2025-2026), likely due to the heavy weight math carries in ranking formulas. Graduation rates are solid at 88%, exceeding the state’s 84%, and the dropout rate of 4% is well below the state’s 7.1%.

One major concern is chronic absenteeism: 37.2% of students are chronically absent, far exceeding both the district’s 21.5% and the state’s 27.9%. This disconnect—strong outcomes despite high absenteeism—suggests that regularly attending students perform very well, but a significant portion of the student body may be disengaged. Because the school has only about 25 students per grade, year-to-year proficiency swings can reflect just a few students’ performance changes rather than real programmatic shifts. Since this is the district’s only high school, its results directly define the entire district’s accountability standing. Parents should note the school’s humanities strengths and science excellence, but also recognize that math intervention is urgently needed—especially since weak math skills could eventually undermine future science achievement.