MIDLAND — A new edition of the Mackinac Center’s analysis of public high schools — the 2018 Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card — gives parents an updated tool for comparing schools that takes into consideration varying demographics between schools.

Unlike other systems of ranking schools, the “CAP” report card compares multiple years of state test results to the expected result given the socioeconomic makeup of a school’s students. This allows for a more comprehensive view when evaluating school performance.

“Relying on raw test results may mislead about how well a school is actually doing,” said Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Center and co-author of the study. “To get a fuller perspective, it helps to factor socioeconomic status into the equation.”

The CAP report card ranks 674 public high schools across the state, including charter and cyber schools.

Michigan Mathematics and Science Academy, a public charter school located in Warren, takes the honor of being the top-ranked school in the state. Star International Academy — which held the highest CAP score in the last three high school report cards — followed closely behind.

The highest-ranking district school is Fordson High School in Dearborn. The nearby city of Ann Arbor is home to three of the top 10 conventional district schools. Saginaw High School holds the lowest CAP score, while 12 of the bottom 25 schools are Detroit district high schools.

The report card also examines long-term performance. Stephenson Middle-High School, an Upper Peninsula district school, and Detroit Community High School, a charter school, registered the greatest improvements from 2012 to 2018.

“To make informed choices about their children's education, parents need a clear and meaningful picture of school performance. Our Context and Performance report card is one key tool that shows how the state’s new school grading system can be shaped into something that parents can both understand and use,” said DeGrow.

You can view the complete CAP report card here. An online database is also available, where users can search for any school’s score, easily compare schools and find historical rankings too.