Great Lakes Online Education

Great Lakes Online Education is a small alternative public school in Grayling, MI, serving 104 students in grades K-12 as part of the Crawford AuSable Schools district.

This school serves a student population with significant challenges. About 76% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, a figure that has dropped from a peak of 86% the prior year. The school's graduation rate of 63.1% is well below the district's 90.4% and the state's 84.0%, while its dropout rate of 15.7% is more than six times higher than the district's 2.6%. Academic proficiency scores also trail district averages—for example, 11th-grade social studies proficiency is 23.1% compared to the district's 51.3%, and 10th-grade English Language Arts proficiency is 45.5% versus 66.4% district-wide. These numbers reflect a program designed for students who may have struggled in traditional settings, often arriving credit-deficient or at risk of dropping out.

There are some encouraging signs. The graduation rate has climbed from 52.7% in 2020-2021 to 63.1% in 2024-2025, while the dropout rate has fallen from 22.2% to 15.7% over the same period. The student-teacher ratio of 18.2 is relatively high for an alternative program, and per-student spending is around $6,000, suggesting a cost-efficient model. When compared to the only nearby school, COOR Special Educational Center—a specialized facility serving just 34 students with intensive needs and per-student spending over $104,000—Great Lakes Online Education is achieving outcomes for a general alternative population that a severe-needs center cannot match. The gap between this school and the rest of the Crawford AuSable Schools district is stark, but it underscores the difficulty of serving at-risk students through an online model rather than a reflection of the district's overall performance.