DeTour Arts and Technology Academy

DeTour Arts and Technology Academy is a very small alternative public school in the rural community of De Tour Village, Michigan, serving 77 students in grades PK through 12 with a low 10:1 student-teacher ratio.

This school presents a mixed picture for parents to consider. On the positive side, students who are actively enrolled appear to be doing well academically. In the most recent testing year, 7th-grade math proficiency was 75% compared to the state average of 33.3%, and 8th-grade science proficiency hit 71.43% versus the state's 39.2%. Chronic absenteeism is also remarkably low at just 11.1%, far better than the state average of 27.9%, suggesting that the students who attend are engaged and present. However, the school faces a serious challenge with student retention. The 4-year graduation rate has been extremely volatile, swinging from 100% in one year to 0% in another, and currently sits at just 38.4%—less than half the state average of 84%. The dropout rate is a concerning 30.7%, which is over four times the state average of 7.1%. Because the school is so small, these rates can change dramatically with just a few students, so year-to-year comparisons aren't always reliable.

There are no other schools within 20 miles to compare against directly, making this the sole educational option in the immediate area. The school operates as its own single-school district, the DeTour Arts and Technology Academy district. One notable point is the school's very low per-student spending of just $1,713, a fraction of typical Michigan public school funding, yet it still achieves strong test scores among its active students. For parents, the key takeaway is that this school appears to offer a high-quality, focused learning environment for the students it retains, but the high dropout rate and low graduation rate are significant concerns that warrant a closer look and direct conversation with school leadership.