Annual Report

72 Schools
2,200 Teachers
29,000 Students
279 Board Members

Schools

CMU’s partner schools are leading the way. They innovate, specialize, and empower families to select the best options for their children.

72 Schools

Learn more about the 72 CMU partner schools by selecting a county. Each partner school has a link leading to additional school-level information, including student demographics, performance data and board members.

Beverly Hills

(2018) NexTech High School of Metro Detroit
Final year of operation was 2017-18

Detroit

Highland Park

(2021) ACE Academy
Final year of authorization was 2020-21
(2023) ACE Academy
Final year of authorization was 2020-21

Kalamazoo

(2020) Lakeside Charter School
Final year of operation was 2019-20
(2022) Lakeside Academy
Final year of operation was 2019-20
(2023) Lakeside Academy
Final year of operation was 2019-20

Livonia

(2023) Explore Academy-Livonia
Final year of operation was 2022-23

Midland

(2019) The Midland Academy of Advanced and Creative Studies
Final year of operation was 2018-19

Roseville

(2020) Global Preparatory Academy
Final year of operation was 2019-20
(2022) Global Preparatory Academy
Final year of operation was 2019-20
(2023) Global Preparatory Academy
Final year of operation was 2019-20

Waterford

(2018) Jefferson International Academy
Final year of operation was 2017-18

Two New Schools Joined the CMU Portfolio

We are proud to welcome two new partners to the CMU charter public school family. From a Montessori school with a decades-long tie to the community to a new school in Detroit that partners with a national leader in education, they share a common vision with all schools in the CMU portfolio: they strive to provide a quality educational experience that meets the needs of the families in their communities.

Young student smiling at the camera.
Creative Montessori Academy Located in Southgate and serving children in grades K–8, the school’s mission is to have a diverse learning environment that cultivates innovative education through partnership with families and community where all students experience opportunities to maximize their potential for leadership and service in a global society.
Teacher sitting with young student. Teacher and student are smiling at each other.
KIPP Detroit Imani Academy Located in Detroit, the school serves kindergarten students with plans to expand a grade level each year. The school’s mission is to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose–college, career, and beyond–so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

Innovation & Vision Award

CMU annually honors its partner schools’ innovative approaches and inspiring visions for the future. This year’s winner, Macomb Academy, was selected by a vote of our 2022 annual conference attendees. To learn more about the school’s unique programming, watch its award-winning video submission.

“At Macomb Academy, our mission is to provide, in collaboration with community and business resources, a transitional education program to prepare students for adult roles in the workplace and life. We truly live that each day as our school is where the transition to adulthood begins for our students.”

– Mikelle Hillewaere, Administrator at Macomb Academy

Students

Our mission is to transform public education. That is why we provide students with opportunities to choose the education that best fits their needs—because lasting change happens one child at a time.

Student Demographics

We celebrate the unique background of each student that is served in our partner schools.

Spirit of the Future Scholarships

Because learning doesn’t end with a diploma, graduates of our partner high schools can receive financial support to attend CMU. Scholarships offered include the Dr. Leonard E. and Louise A. Plachta Public Charter School Scholarship and The Governor John Engler Center for Charter Schools Scholarship.

2022-23 Recipients

  • Abby Adams, Oakland FlexTech High School
  • Sarah Hudson, Summit Academy North
  • Samantha Rodriguez-Osorio, West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science

Enrollment by Grade

From kindergarten to high school, our partner schools serve more than 28,000 students.

Grade Enrollment
K 3,015
1 2,719
2 2,562
3 2,548
4 2,446
5 2,420
6 2,449
7 2,269
8 2,151
9 1,938
10 1,744
11 1,535
12 1,337

School Leadership

The board members and school leaders that serve CMU partner schools are instrumental to student success. Their choices, innovations, and resilience offer fresh opportunities for learning and growth.

School Board Members

There are 279 board members transforming public education through their service at CMU partner schools.

Professional Development

At CMU, we’re proud to provide our partner schools with professional development resources that help them fulfill their schools’ missions and support educational achievement.

Offerings include:

  • Webinars and in-person events that support school leaders and board members with governance, assessment data, and school finance.
  • Professional supports focused on connecting school leaders, leveraging academic data to impact instruction, testing environment best practices, and special education.
  • Roundtables for board presidents to discuss topics important to their work.
  • Information-packed orientations for new board members to ensure they can be successful in their new roles.

2022 Annual Conference

Every August, we host an annual conference that brings together teachers, board members, school leaders and education stakeholders for a day of professional development to kick off the school year. This year, conference attendees gained valuable resources from a diverse group of speakers while collaborating with colleagues at the highest attended conference in our history.

352 Attendees
40 Schools
22 Sessions

Research

In pursuit of our mission to transform public education, our team’s Research, Evaluation and Data Analytics efforts are aimed at informing policy and practice.

Continued Examination of Student Achievement and Growth

For decades, researchers will seek to understand the pandemic’s impact on student achievement. Our Research, Evaluation and Data Analysis team already is leading the way, providing an analytical review of student assessment results from March 2020 to the present. This research helps inform schools of their unique results so they can improve their interventions—and forms the basis of future historical analysis.

View Research

Leading the Conversation on High School Accountability

As an authorizer, we are always seeking ways to continue the development of our accountability measures and oversight practices. An area of focus for our team is evolving the assessment and evaluation of high schools. Through our own research and extensive feedback from our partner high schools, we have explored what a fair and balanced accountability system means for schools serving high school grades and are pleased to share our findings with members of the state and national research communities.

Partnerships

Unique partnerships provide opportunities to students in CMU partner schools.

Charter School Students Take a Step into Their Futures

All of our partner schools have the goal of preparing students for success in college, work, and life. We support this pivotal work by providing connections for students in our partner schools to the programming available at CMU. The focus of our campus visit initiatives is to offer first-hand experiences that show students that they can transform their future by attending college.

940 Students
29 Schools
8 Events

Experience Central Offers High School Students a Preview of Their Academic Futures

In September 2022, 295 high school juniors and seniors from 16 CMU partner schools participated in a one-day intensive campus visit. During the visit, they participated in many activities, including joining one of 25 hands-on interactive academic sessions led by CMU faculty. They gained firsthand knowledge of what it takes to prepare for—and succeed in—their chosen fields of study.

Watch Video

Charter Educator Tuition Program

CMU is committed to furthering the education of teachers and school leaders in CMU partner schools. That’s why we offer a 50 percent tuition award to pursue graduate degrees in education at CMU. To date, 86 award recipients have received graduate degrees through this program.

Connecting Counselors to Resources and Colleagues

Our team is connecting high school counselors throughout the state to experts in important fields through our Counselor Connection series. The professional development sessions focused on topics critical to their work as a counselor and offered opportunities for professional networking and support.

Central Michigan University became Michigan’s first charter public school authorizer—and the nation’s first university authorizer—in 1994.

Our decades of visionary leadership have brought us recognition as a change agent, thought leader, and catalyst for educational innovation. We use our research-driven insights to enrich the work of educators, schools, authorizers, and policymakers alike for the benefit of all.