Conservative Group Names Loy Norrix, Homer, Area’s Top High Schools
The conservation Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a think tank, has released a report that ranks Kalamazoo's Loy Norrix the top high school in Kalamazoo County and Homer Community High School the top one in Calhoun County.
Conversely, Climax-Scotts and Lakeside Charter were at the bottom of Kalamazoo County rankings and Pennfield and Harper Creek were at the bottom of Calhoun County.
"parents an updated tool for comparing schools that takes into consideration varying demographics between schools. Unlike other systems of ranking schools, the “CAP” report card compares multiple years of state test results to the expected result given the socioeconomic makeup of a school’s students. This allows for a more comprehensive view when evaluating school performance."
In Kalamazoo County, Loy Norrix, Portage Northern and Galesburg-Augusta were the only schools to receive grades of "B", though only Loy Norrix and Portage Central were above the 80th percentile. The other Kalamazoo public high school ranked tenth and finished in the 40th percentile, and earning a grade of "C" from the group. Only Lakeside Charter received a failing grade.
In Calhoun County, Homer was the only school above the 80th percentile and only school to achieve a grade of "B", while both Pennfield and Harper Creek were given "F" grades.
Outside of the two main counties here, two Van Buren country schools received "A" grades, Covert and Bloomington.
Looking at the entire state of Michigan, the report states:
Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy, a public charter school located in Warren, takes the honor of being the top-ranked school in the state. Star International Academy — which held the highest CAP score in the last three high school report cards — followed closely behind. The highest-ranking district school is Fordson High School in Dearborn. The nearby city of Ann Arbor is home to three of the top 10 conventional district schools. Saginaw High School holds the lowest CAP score, while 12 of the bottom 25 schools are Detroit district high schools.