2021-2022 / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
Annual Report
Schools
CMU’s partner schools are leading the way. They innovate, specialize, and empower families to select the best options for their children.
57 Schools
Ann Arbor
Benton Harbor
Beverly Hills
Brighton
Byron Center
Canton
Center Line
Clinton Township
Coldwater
Dearborn
Detroit
East Lansing
Eastpointe
Eaton County
Eaton Rapids
Farmington Hills
Flat Rock
Flint
Grand Blanc
Grand Rapids
Harper Woods
Highland Park
Holland
Holly
Howell
Huron Township
Inkster
Jackson
Kalamazoo
Lakeland
Lansing
Livonia
Midland
Mount Pleasant
Novi
Okemos
Plymouth
Roseville
Saginaw
Southfield
Southgate
Spring Lake
Sterling Heights
Taylor
Walker
Waterford
Ypsilanti
Two New Schools Joined the CMU Portfolio
We are proud to welcome two new partners to the CMU charter public school family. From the Upper Peninsula to Southwest Michigan, 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.
Innovation & Vision Award
CMU annually honors its partner schools’ innovative approaches and inspiring visions for the future. This year’s winner, Countryside Academy, was selected by a vote of our 2021 annual conference attendees. To learn more about the school’s unique programming and curriculum, listen to the Charter Central Podcast episode that featured Countryside Academy as our guests.
“We strive to give our students the best, and most unique, agricultural experience possible. Countryside Academy utilizes a FARE (Food, Agriculture, Renewable Resources, and Environment) theme. By practicing this principle, our students learn the value of hard work and agriculture.”
– Countryside Academy’s Innovation and Vision Award Presentation
CMU Partner Schools Take U.S. News and World Report Honors
Each year U.S. News and World Report releases its list of the best high schools throughout the nation. This year, the publication honored elementary and middle schools as well. Congratulations to all the CMU partner schools whose achievements put them in the top 100 public schools in Michigan!
Top 100 Middle Schools in Michigan
Top 100 Middle Schools in Michigan
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
Our partner schools serve students from diverse backgrounds.
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.
2021-22 Recipients
- Nadiya Borys / A.G.B.U. Alex and Marie Manoogian School
- Shelby Hollins / Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
- Sarah Hudson / Summit Academy North
- Theresa Leffert / Kensington Woods Schools
- Kelli White / Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
Enrollment by Grade
From kindergarten to high school, our partner schools serve more than 28,000 students.
| Grade | Enrollment |
|---|---|
| K | 2,917 |
| 1 | 2,466 |
| 2 | 2,488 |
| 3 | 2,433 |
| 4 | 2,346 |
| 5 | 2,419 |
| 6 | 2,336 |
| 7 | 2,129 |
| 8 | 2,029 |
| 9 | 1,871 |
| 10 | 1,588 |
| 11 | 1,448 |
| 12 | 1,472 |
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 280 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.
Opportunities Include:
- Webinars and in-person events that support school leaders and board members with governance, social-emotional learning, and funding.
- Professional supports focused on leveraging academic data to impact instruction, formative assessments, accelerating learning recovery, literacy, 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.
2021 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. In 2021, our theme, Working Together for Tomorrow, celebrated a return to our in-person event with the largest attendance in our history. Conference attendees gained valuable resources from a diverse group of speakers.
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 to come, researchers will seek to understand the pandemic’s impact on student achievement. Our Research, Evaluation and Data team already is leading the way, providing an analytical review of student assessment results from March 2020 to the present. This groundbreaking research helps inform schools of their unique results so they can improve their interventions—and forms the basis of future historical analysis.
View ResultsSharing Research at the State and National Levels
As we continue to share our insights with a host of research interests, from the Michigan Legislature to the most influential education organizations, we are honored to be called upon to share our work. All our presentation materials can be found on our Research and Analysis webpage.
2021-22 Presentations:
- American Educational Research Association
- Michigan House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid and Dept. of Education
- Michigan Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee
- Research Council on Mathematics Learning
Examining the Impacts, Changes and Innovations Schools Have Experienced During the COVID-19 Pandemic
We engaged The Learning Collective and Venn Education to examine the pandemic’s impact and related school response. Following extensive research and feedback from individuals working in CMU partner schools, researchers Adam Aberman and David Hartman investigated this very important topic and authored a final report with recommendations to help inform future decision making.
View ResultsLeading the Conversation on Individualized Accountability
Every CMU partner school serves a diverse student population, including some of our partners that primarily serve opportunity youth who are over-aged for their grade level and under-credited in their academic progress. The work schools do to serve opportunity youth is critically important in showing students the possibilities that await if they complete their education. As an authorizer, we have explored what a fair and balanced accountability system means for schools serving opportunity youth and are pleased to share our findings with members of the state and national research communities.
“Insight School of Michigan proudly embraces students by meeting them where they are academically and when they are able to meet, including nights and weekends, working with them to cross the finish line and earn a high school diploma. Working with The Center for Charters at CMU to formalize our work with Opportunity Youth has been a great process and wonderful collaboration. Most importantly it helps us do great things for students.”
– Teresa Boardman, School Leader at Insight School of Michigan
Partnerships
Unique partnerships provide opportunities to students in CMU partner schools.
Experience Central Offers High School Students a Preview of Their Academic Futures
In September 2021, 290 high school juniors and seniors from 13 CMU partner schools participated in a one-day intensive campus visit. During the visit, they participated in many activities, including joining one of 26 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.
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, 84 award recipients have received graduate degrees through this program.
Connecting Counselors to Resources and Colleagues
This year we launched Counselor Connection, a series of professional development sessions for the counselors at CMU partner schools. The sessions focused on topics critical to their important work and offered opportunities for professional networking and support. The topics covered included substance abuse, suicide prevention, and student and staff mental health.
Black History Literacy Project
This year we partnered with the CMU Detroit Office and the Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs to offer the Black History Literacy Project. For five weeks, a live virtual book reading was offered for K–3 students with the recordings made available for further use by schools. The initiative kicked off on January 17, reflecting on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and celebrating his legacy. To view the recordings, visit our Black History Literacy Project webpage. We look forward to continuing this as a signature partnership in service to our schools.
Fire Up for Your Future
In May 2022, we welcomed eighth-grade students from West Village Academy and Eaton Academy to CMU's campus for a new event. Students explored campus, learned about opportunities at CMU and participated in team-building activities. Next year we will expand this program to all of our partner schools’ eighth-grade students in order to show them what is possible for their futures.
Charter Central Podcast
The podcast provides a unique platform to communicate monthly insights into topics important to charter public schools from experts in their fields. Each month a special guest joins us to discuss their work and perspectives on education.
Topics Covered:
- Board Member Public Service
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Innovative School Programming
- Literacy
- Pandemic-Related Academic Research
- Safe School Drinking Water
- Special Education Services
- Strategic Communications and Engagement
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.