High Schools in Garden City Public Schools

The Garden City Public Schools district in Michigan is home to two high schools: Garden City High School and Cambridge Alternative High School. While Garden City High School is the stronger-performing school, with higher graduation rates, lower dropout rates, and better academic achievement, Cambridge Alternative High School faces significant challenges, including much lower proficiency rates and a concerning chronic absenteeism rate.

Garden City High School stands out as the top-performing school in the district, with a four-year graduation rate of 92.3% and a dropout rate of just 3.5%. The school's students also outperform the district and state averages on state assessments, with proficiency rates ranging from 22.7% to 48.9%. In contrast, Cambridge Alternative High School lags significantly behind, with proficiency rates ranging from only 11.5% to 16.5% and a much lower four-year graduation rate of 52.0% and a higher dropout rate of 20.3%.

The disparities between the two schools may be attributed to factors such as resource allocation, student-teacher ratios, and the unique challenges faced by the student population at Cambridge Alternative High School, which has a higher percentage of African American students and a significantly higher chronic absenteeism rate of 77.8%. Further investigation into the underlying causes of these performance gaps could help the Garden City Public Schools district develop targeted interventions to improve outcomes for all students.