University High School

University High School is a public high school in Ferndale, MI, serving 469 students in grades 9-12 within the Ferndale Public Schools district, where about 73% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

The most striking thing about University High is the contrast between its graduation rate and its test scores. On one hand, the school graduates about 95.8% of its students—far above the district average of 72.1% and the state average of 84.0%. On the other hand, academic proficiency is extremely low. Only 11.8% of 11th graders were proficient in reading/writing on the SAT, and just 2.91% were proficient in science. These numbers are a fraction of the already-low district averages and place the school in the bottom 2% of Michigan high schools. For comparison, Ferndale High School, just over a mile away in the same district, has a 50.7% reading/writing proficiency rate and ranks in the 46th percentile. This suggests University High may operate with a different model—possibly focusing on credit recovery or alternative pathways to help students earn diplomas.

Another major concern is attendance. A staggering 80.5% of students are chronically absent, meaning they miss significant amounts of school—more than double the district rate and nearly triple the state rate. Yet the dropout rate is only 2.5%, which suggests students remain enrolled but aren't consistently showing up. The school also spends $12,917 per student, which is above the state average, but maintains a high student-teacher ratio of 21.8—higher than nearby Oak Park High School (18.8) and Madison High School (17.1). Unfortunately, recent trends show performance declining further, with rankings dropping from the 5th to the 2nd percentile over the past few years. While the school clearly succeeds at helping students graduate, the low test scores and severe attendance issues raise important questions about what students are actually learning and how prepared they are for life after high school.