Summary:
Zip code 48141 in Inkster, Michigan, is served by three elementary schools—David Hicks School, Inkster Preparatory Academy, and Daly School—which together educate roughly 861 students from Pre-K through 8th grade, with all three serving predominantly low-income families (free/reduced lunch rates between 79.6% and 94.1%).
If you are comparing schools here, the standout is Inkster Preparatory Academy, a charter school that is the only one showing improvement, climbing from the 6th to the 17th percentile over three years. It also posts the strongest academic numbers in the area, especially in 3rd grade math, where 36.4% of students are proficient—close to the state average of 42.9% and more than double the 14.5% rate at David Hicks School. In contrast, David Hicks School (part of Wayne-Westland Community School District) has the largest enrollment at 466 students but has slid to the 2nd percentile, the lowest rank among the three. Daly School (in Westwood Community School District) is the smallest at 175 students and spends the most per student ($19,770), yet it ranks in the bottom 3% of Michigan schools and has no 2025-2026 test scores reported.
The biggest challenge across all three schools is chronic absenteeism, which ranges from 57.8% at Daly School to 63.3% at Inkster Preparatory Academy—more than double the state average of 27.9%. This likely explains why even the best local performance remains far below state averages in reading, science, and social studies. Notably, Daly School shows an isolated strength in 5th grade social studies (25% proficiency vs. its district’s 11.3%), hinting at a possible targeted instructional focus. For parents, the takeaway is that Inkster Preparatory Academy offers the most promising trajectory, especially in early math, but all schools face systemic hurdles tied to attendance and poverty that require community-wide solutions.
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