High Schools in South Redford School District

The South Redford School District contains two high schools serving roughly 1,010 students in the Redford, Michigan area, offering a traditional comprehensive high school and an alternative academic program for grades 6-12.

Lee M Thurston High School is the district's flagship school, serving grades 9-12 with 806 students. It stands out for its exceptional 98.4% graduation rate and zero dropout rate, dramatically exceeding state averages. However, this success masks serious academic challenges. Nearly half of Thurston students (46.9%) are chronically absent, and math proficiency is critically low—only 5.3% of 11th graders scored proficient on the SAT math section. Science proficiency also plummeted from 30.5% to 13.1% in a single year. By contrast, SOAR Academic Institute serves a smaller alternative population of 204 students across grades 6-12. SOAR posts an 85.8% graduation rate and 2.8% dropout rate, but operates with significant resource disadvantages: a 30.4:1 student-teacher ratio versus Thurston's 18.3:1, and per-student spending of $12,116 versus $17,467 at Thurston.

Both schools perform well below state averages in nearly every subject. Thurston outperforms SOAR in most areas—for example, 33.3% of Thurston 11th graders are proficient in SAT reading/writing versus 13.6% at SOAR, and 27.2% are proficient in social studies versus 10.2% at SOAR. However, SOAR's 8th graders show a bright spot with 42.86% proficiency in PSAT ELA, suggesting stronger performance in middle grades that fades by high school. The district ranks in the 14th percentile statewide, and despite Thurston's above-average per-student spending, achievement remains roughly 40-60% below state levels. For parents, the key takeaway is that Thurston excels at keeping students enrolled through graduation but struggles with attendance and core academic proficiency, while SOAR offers an alternative pathway with fewer resources and mixed results. The district's chronic absenteeism crisis and critically low math scores across both schools warrant serious attention.