WAY Niles

NILES · MI · Niles Community Schools · Public · K-12 combined

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 14% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 24% (Bottom 4% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How WAY Niles compares for families

What families should know about WAY Niles.

  • LocallyMI sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: WAY Watervliet High School, Eau Claire High School, Bridge Academy of Southwest Michigan and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

📬

Follow WAY Niles

Get an email when WAY Niles's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 4% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
24%
Range: 20–29%
4-year cohort size
33
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

64.2%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

18%
admit rate
$17,736
in-state tuition/yr · $60,946 out-of-state
1350–1530
SAT 25–75 · ACT 31–34

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $13,138/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Michigan-Ann Arbor profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
15.8%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
15
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -12.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 95 students:

2025
83
2027
63
2029
48

A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
WAY Watervliet High School
WATERVLIET
Public 25.2 90 -3.2%
Eau Claire High School
EAU CLAIRE
Public 11.7 180 -10.9%
Bridge Academy of Southwest Michigan
BENTON HARBOR
Public · charter 23.4 112 +55.6%
Blossomland Learning Center
BERRIEN SPRINGS
Public 10.7 25
River Valley MiddleHigh School
THREE OAKS
Public 19.6 159 -1.2%
Lighthouse Education Center
SAINT JOSEPH
Public 19.4 35
Covert High School
COVERT
Public 32.2 101 +9.8%
WoodsEdge Learning Center
PORTAGE
Public 44.1 61 +15.1%

For Parents

Researching colleges for your kid at WAY Niles?

Get a personalized College Plan Audit — find Reach, Target, and Safety colleges matched to your kid's GPA, test scores, intended major, and your family's budget. Free.

Start the College Plan Audit →

For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →