Tekonsha Schools

Tekonsha Schools is a small, K-12 public school in the rural community of Tekonsha, MI, serving 193 students within the Tekonsha Community Schools district, where about 68% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

The most striking thing about Tekonsha is its success at keeping students in school and on track to graduate. With a graduation rate of 85.7% and a dropout rate of just 3.5%, it far outperforms many nearby alternative schools. For example, Greenfield School and Doris Klaussen Dev Center report 0% graduation rates, while Pansophia Academy has a 56.2% rate and a 25% dropout rate. This suggests Tekonsha provides a supportive, stable environment that successfully re-engages students who might otherwise fall through the cracks. The school also recovered impressively from the pandemic, dropping its dropout rate from 21.4% in 2020-2021 to its current low level.

Academically, the picture is more mixed. A clear bright spot is 8th-grade English Language Arts, where 70.6% of students are proficient—well above the state average of 64.8% and dramatically higher than the 18.75% at Marshall Academy, a similarly sized school with a comparable economic profile. Tekonsha also shines in 5th-grade science, with 50% proficiency versus 40% statewide. However, math scores lag significantly, and proficiency in other core subjects generally falls below state averages. Chronic absenteeism (22.7%) is better than the state average (27.9%) but remains a concern. The school spends a substantial $18,161 per student, reflecting a strong financial commitment to its small student body, though this investment has yet to translate into across-the-board academic gains.