STEM Middle School was recently recognized as the top school in the state in an April 2025 report by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
The magnet middle school was one of four Dearborn Public Schools that ranked in the top 15 in the organization’s Context and Performance (CAP) Report Card. The report ranked every public elementary and middle school in Michigan, a total of 2,188 schools.
Twelve Dearborn Public Schools placed in the top 100.
The CAP Report looks at both state test scores and the number of low-income students in the school to provide a different measure for how well schools are teaching students. Low-income is measured by the number of students who would qualify for free or reduced lunch.
“Traditional school rankings often overlook the impact of socioeconomic factors on student achievement. The Mackinac Center’s report card addresses that by adjusting standardized test scores to account for these variables, providing a more accurate reflection of a schools’ effectiveness. This method ensures that schools educating students from diverse economic backgrounds are evaluated on a level playing field,” the Center said in a statement as it announced the study’s results.
The top Dearborn Schools on the list included STEM Middle School ranked 1st, Iris Becker Elementary at 9th, River Oaks Elementary at 11th, Lowrey Elementary at 12th, and Howe Trainable Center and Montessori at 24th.
Other district schools in the top 100 schools include Maples Elementary at 24th, Lowrey Middle at 42nd, Oakman Elementary at 45th, McDonald Elementary at 48th, Miller Elementary at 50th, McCollough Elementary at 86th, and DuVall Elementary at 97th.
Nowlin Elementary narrowly missed the top 100 coming in at 102nd.
Of the 30 Dearborn Public Schools evaluated, 19 received A grades, nine received Bs and two received Cs in the report. Letter grades based on CAP Scores are issued on a curve. The top 10 percent of schools received an A, the next 20 percent a B, the middle 40 percent a C, the next 20 percent a D, and the bottom 10 percent an F.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a nonprofit research and educational institute that advances the principles of free markets and limited government. This is the first CAP report the organization has released since the pandemic. Data in the report came from 2022 through 2024.