LCS Virtual Academy

LCS Virtual Academy is a small, virtual public school in Ypsilanti, MI, serving 121 students in grades K-12 within the Lincoln Consolidated School District, where about 60% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

This school presents a mixed picture for parents to consider. On one hand, the dropout rate is a major concern—at 30.4% for the 2024-2025 school year, it's more than four times the state average of 7.1% and nearly double the district's rate of 15.9%. On the other hand, the graduation rate has shown steady improvement, climbing from 52.9% in 2022-2023 to 60.8% most recently, though it still trails the state's 84.0%. Chronic absenteeism (26.6%) is actually slightly better than both the district and state averages, suggesting that students who remain enrolled tend to stay engaged. Academic performance is uneven: 8th-grade ELA proficiency (50%) matches the district average, but 11th-grade science (10%) and social studies (13.33%) proficiency rates are less than half of the district's already low figures, and SAT reading/writing proficiency (23.8%) falls well below the state's 55.4%.

Compared to nearby alternatives, LCS Virtual Academy's outcomes are particularly striking. Schools like Ivywood Classical Academy Genoa Cr Site and Ivywood Classical AcademyRidge Rd Site demonstrate that alternative schools in the region can achieve far stronger test scores. Meanwhile, GEE Compass Academy, which serves an even higher percentage of low-income students (97.7%), boasts a 90% graduation rate and a 0% dropout rate—showing that high poverty doesn't have to lead to poor persistence. The school's student-teacher ratio of 20.1 is the highest among comparable programs, and per-student spending has jumped from $6,270 to $14,173 in recent years. For parents, the improving graduation trend is encouraging, but the persistently high dropout rate and low high-school test scores raise important questions about whether the virtual model provides enough support for this student population.