Detroit K-12 Education System Overview

In 2025, Detroit will elect a new mayor. Mayoral candidates have already weighed in on educational issues facing the city and its residents. Detroit PEER has released a series of briefs to address important issues impacting K-12 students and their families that are under the mayor’s purview, such as housing, transportation, and neighborhood conditions. The purpose of this brief is to provide background information about Detroit’s K-12 students and school system, as well as the mayor’s role in Detroit education. The data reported in this brief are from the 2023-24 school year.

Neighborhoods and Education in Detroit

Decades of disinvestment and expanded school choice have led to neighborhood school closures and weakened school-neighborhood relationships. Where students live significantly shapes where they enroll in school and their experiences in school once they get there. Adverse neighborhood conditions negatively impact students’ educational and lifetime outcomes. The next Mayor of Detroit has a role to play in strengthening neighborhood conditions for families with school-aged children.

Corktown Residents’ Perceptions of their Neighborhood

The Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research is part of a research collaborative with scholars from the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan studying the implementation of the Corktown CNI and its impact on residents’ educational opportunities and experiences, as part of our increasing focus on children’s neighborhoods alongside their educational experiences. This report presents a closer look at Corktown residents’ perceptions of their neighborhood using data from a representative survey of Detroit residents during the summer of 2023.

Neighborhood Satisfaction and Implications for Detroit Schoolchildren

The Detroit Partnership for Education Equity & Research is increasing its focus on children’s neighborhoods alongside their educational experiences. As a first step, we partnered with the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study and our colleagues at the University of Southern California, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Michigan to conduct a representative survey of Detroit residents during the summer of 2023. This research brief uses the survey results to provide a baseline assessment of the neighborhood conditions affecting Detroit children and their families, from perceptions of improvement to social cohesion to satisfaction.