Great Lakes Online Education

Great Lakes Online Education is a small, alternative public virtual school serving students from kindergarten through 12th grade in Grayling, Michigan, with a student population of 95 as of the 2022-2023 school year. The school is part of the Crawford AuSable Schools district, which is ranked 234 out of 610 school districts in Michigan and has a 3-star rating from SchoolDigger.

While Great Lakes Online Education has seen some improvements in its four-year graduation rate, from 28.5% in 2018-2019 to 56.6% in 2022-2023, this rate is still lower than the state and district averages. The school also struggles with high dropout rates, ranging from 18.5% to 33.3% over the past five years, and significantly lower test scores compared to the state and district averages. For example, in 2023-2024, only 21.1% of 11th-grade students were proficient or better in M-Step/Science, compared to 42.9% in the Crawford AuSable Schools district and 37.5% statewide. Additionally, the school has a very high percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 64.63% to 84.21% over the past three years, indicating a high level of economic disadvantage among the student population.

Interestingly, the nearby COOR Special Educational Center, another alternative school, has a significantly lower four-year graduation rate (0.0%) and a higher chronic absenteeism rate (51.2%) compared to Great Lakes Online Education, suggesting that the online school may be performing better than some of the other alternative schools in the region. Additionally, Great Lakes Online Education has seen a significant increase in its per-student spending, from $2,506 in 2020-2021 to $4,768 in 2022-2023, which could potentially lead to improved outcomes for the school's students.