Summary:
Zip code 49781 is home to just one high school, LaSalle High School, a small public school in Saint Ignace, MI, serving 117 students in grades 9-12 as part of the St. Ignace Area Schools district.
For parents, the most striking story here is LaSalle’s dramatic academic turnaround. In just one year, the school jumped from ranking 459th in the state to 266th out of 800 schools—a leap from the 38th to the 67th percentile. This improvement is broad-based: proficiency in science rose from 26.9% to 36.4%, social studies from 30.8% to 50.0%, and 11th-grade SAT reading/writing from 48.1% to 59.1%. The school now outperforms state averages in ELA, science, and social studies. However, math remains a clear weak spot. Only 22.7% of 11th graders are proficient in SAT math (vs. 26.5% statewide), and 10th-grade PSAT math proficiency (31.0%) is essentially tied with the state average (31.5%). This split between strong literacy and lagging math is the key challenge for the school.
Beyond test scores, LaSalle shows positive engagement metrics. Chronic absenteeism is just 18.5%, far better than the state’s 27.9%, suggesting students who attend are consistently present. The graduation rate (87.1%) beats the state average (84.0%), though the dropout rate (10.2%) is higher than the state’s 7.1%. With 54.7% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch, the school serves a majority low-income population, making its strong ELA scores and low absenteeism especially notable. The school also spends a hefty $21,560 per student—well above typical levels—which may support its small class sizes (14.2:1 student-teacher ratio) but has not yet translated into math gains. For parents, LaSalle offers a tight-knit environment with clear strengths in reading and writing, but they should ask how the school plans to address its persistent math proficiency gap.
Thank you for your feedback!