Palmer Park Preparatory Academy

Palmer Park Preparatory Academy is one of the medium-sized primary schools in DETROIT, Michigan, part of Detroit Public Schools Community District, with 405 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 8.

Detroit Public Schools Community District comprises 103 schools with combined enrollment of 48,448 students; Palmer Park Preparatory Academy is among them.

Demographically, Palmer Park Preparatory Academy logs that nearly all students (84%) are Black; the rest reads as 12% White, 2% multiracial. That is noticeably more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 37%.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 16.2:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 15.8:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. About 60% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Palmer Park Preparatory Academy tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 39.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 34.3%.

In the area at large, ACS estimates for Wayne County put the typical household earns roughly $60,539 per year, 28% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 16%. Palmer Park Preparatory Academy is one of 573 public schools in Wayne County (combined enrollment of about 259,786 students).

Bagley Elementary School of Journalism and Technology is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Palmer Park Preparatory Academy. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Palmer Park Preparatory Academy ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 43.0%.

The campus sits in a city-core setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Palmer Park Preparatory Academy has edged down 7%, going from 437 students in 2018 to 405 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 99% to 84% across the same window. Class-load math has pulled in: from 20.6:1 in 2018 to 16.2:1 in 2025.

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