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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Excel Charter Academy?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
791
Combined
STATE 281
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EXCEL CHARTER ACADEMY·NCES 260009300597
Excel Charter Academy
4201 BRETON RD SE, GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49512 · (616) 281-9339 · Kent County
GRADES PK–12COMBINED12-CITYCHARTERTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL791 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 74% of Michigan public K-12 schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Michigan public K-12 schools
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
42 FTE teachers
STATE 17.3:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
63%
495 students
STATE 55%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other combined schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 108 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 85 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 84 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 88 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 83 | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 88 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 84 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (108) is 29% larger than its 8th grade class (84).
Student demographics
75%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
STATE 56% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
M-STEP 2024-25 . % Advanced + ProficientEnglish Language Arts
55.7%
MI avg 47.7%
Math
49.3%
MI avg 44.8%
What this means: On the M-STEP, Michigan's statewide test, about 56 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 49 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Michigan schools, those numbers are about 48 and 45.
Source: M-STEP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of MI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
54.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.6%
based on MI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+15.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 39% typical for Michigan schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 16 points, placing it in Michigan's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
791
+11 (+1%) vs 2020
+22% since 2000-01, when it was 651
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
was 19.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 791 | 41.5 | 19.1:1 | 63% (495) |
| 2023-24 | 783 | 40.6 | 19.3:1 | 64% (505) |
| 2022-23 | 784 | 38.1 | 20.6:1 | 59% (460) |
| 2020-21 | 780 | 40 | 19.5:1 | 53% (412) |
| 2017-18 | 773 | 39.8 | 19.4:1 | 50% (390) |
| 2015-16 | 772 | 37 | 20.9:1 | 44% (341) |
| 2010-11 | 722 | 34 | 21.2:1 | 43% (308) |
| 2000-01 | 651 | 27 | 24.1:1 | 9% (61) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Excel Charter Academy.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (773 to 791); teachers up 4% (39.8 to 41.5).
About Excel Charter Academy
Excel Charter Academy is a large school serving multiple grade levels that serves part of GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan. Enrollment totals 791 students across pre-K through 12. On average, combined schools in Michigan enroll around 281, and this school is 181% above that mark.
Excel Charter Academy is not part of a larger district; federal data list it as its own local education agency.
No group is above 50% at Excel Charter Academy; the largest is Black, at 32%. Other reported shares: 31% White, 17% Hispanic, 14% multiracial, and 6% Asian. Kent County's residents are about 10% Black, 22 points below the school's share. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 75%.
Excel Charter Academy lists 41.5 full-time-equivalent teachers; that is about 19.1 students per teacher. Across combined schools in Michigan, the average ratio is 17.3:1. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 63% of the student body. The gap from the 47% average for public schools in Kent County is 16 points.
On the allk12 Grade, Excel Charter Academy lands at B+, ahead of 74% of Michigan public K-12 schools.
Excel Charter Academy is a top-10% school in Michigan on BeatsExpectations, beating its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results of 38.6% with an actual 54.3%.
In the wider Kent County area, the median household earns about $82,631 a year, about 41% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Across Kent County, 239 public schools serve about 97,253 students.
Among nearby public schools, Crestwood Middle School is closest at about 0.6 miles. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. By average proficiency, Excel Charter Academy is 1st among 5 schools close by.
The school's locale code, City: Mid-size, means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000. NCES lists Excel Charter Academy as a charter school.
Compared with 2020-21, when it had 780 students, enrollment in 2024-25 was about the same at 791.
This page collects posts and questions about Excel Charter Academy, such as fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Kent County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
663,150
Census ACS
Median income
$82,631
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
239
97,253 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in GRAND RAPIDS
- East Kentwood High SchoolHigh · 2,068 students
- Northern High SchoolHigh · 1,088 students
- PrepNet Virtual AcademyCombined · 1,080 students
- Northview High SchoolHigh · 1,078 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 999 students
- City High Middle SchoolHigh · 955 students
Nearby schools
- Crestwood Middle School0.6 mi · 700
- Sherwood Global Studies Academy0.7 mi · 121
- Bowen Elementary1.1 mi · 357
- Challenger Elementary1.3 mi · 413
- Lighthouse Academy South Campus1.3 mi · 213
- New Branches Charter Academy1.4 mi · 345
Frequently asked questions
About Excel Charter AcademyHow large is Excel Charter Academy?
Excel Charter Academy enrolls approximately 791 students in grades PK-12.
What grades does Excel Charter Academy serve?
Excel Charter Academy serves grades PK-12.
How many teachers does Excel Charter Academy have?
Excel Charter Academy employs 42 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 19.1:1.
How diverse is Excel Charter Academy?
Excel Charter Academy reports a student body of 31% White, 17% Hispanic, 32% Black, 6% Asian, 14% Two or more.
Is Excel Charter Academy public or private?
Excel Charter Academy is a public K-12 school operated as a charter, overseen by Excel Charter Academy.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.