Education
Sault Ste. Marie’s Excellent Education Opportunities…Sault Ste. Marie Public School systems provide a challenging and rewarding educational experience for every child. Education is a key component in a global economy, and educational institutions serve as a hub for not only learning but sports, entertainment, arts and culture, healthcare, and recreation, but also serve as economic engines. Our school districts are noted for excellence in preparing students for tomorrow’s workplace. In addition to the excellent public education, the Sault is also home to private schools. This diversity of educational opportunities gives residents great options when making crucial educational choices.
Lake Superior State University
Sault Ste. Marie is home to Lake Superior State University. Lake Superior State University is a personal, small-town school that provides a superior blend of liberal and technical studies in the natural setting of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. LSSU offers undergraduate degrees in 45 areas of study that attract students from every county in Michigan, more than a dozen states and provinces, and nine nations. LSSU is Michigan's most personal public university emphasizing an undergraduate experience provided by a fully-qualified faculty and a dedicated staff.
The student-faculty ratio at Lake Superior State University is 17:1, and the school has 49.0 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 66.2 percent.
Lake Superior State University has once again been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the #5 public school in the Midwest amongst regional colleges.
Visit LSSU website for more information regarding the university.
Sault Ste. Marie Area Public Schools
Welcome to Sault Ste. Marie Area Public Schools!
Our district is located on the beautiful St. Mary's River in Michigan's Eastern Upper Peninsula. The district is one of the largest in the Upper Peninsula, having an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students and encompassing 308 square miles, including two islands. The district maintains high academic standards and provides a variety of meaningful extracurricular activities for students. Schools are culturally diverse, as Sault Ste. Marie is home to the largest Native American tribe in Michigan, the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The administrative team and teaching faculty are excellent. Each member strives to make the Sault Schools the premier teaching and learning environment in the state. Cutting edge technology is present at all levels. The district is also home to a career-technical center, which provides students of the district and surrounding districts with vocational certificate training in a wide variety of state-certified programs. The district also enjoys many partnerships with Lake Superior State University, also located in Sault Ste. Marie.
For additional information visit Sault Ste. Marie Area Public Schools website.
Sault High School - Sault Area Career and Technical Education
Credit,Certification, Articulation Guide, and Program Points click here
Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians
The Education Division is dedicated to the concept that all students, from earliest childhood to adulthood, can learn and master basic educational skills. Students can succeed regardless of previous academic history, family background, socio-economic status, gender or ethnic identity. We believe that the primary purpose of our program is to instill all students with high expectations of academic success and competent thinking skills while fostering growth in social/emotional behaviors and positive attitudes. See the Sault Trib of Chippewa Indians website for additional education programs.
JKL Bahweting School
The Joseph K. Lumsden Bahweting Anishnabe School (K-8) is both a Bureau of Indian Affairs school and a Michigan Charter school. As such, a myriad of overlapping regulations exist to govern the school. A single school board of directors serves as the supervising authority. Northern Michigan University serves as the charter authorizing entity.
Located within a public school district that has a significant Native American drop-out rate, the chartering approach to public education was welcomed in the tribal community. Since Bahweting became a charter school, the quality of education has increased significantly. The school has been awarded the Governor of Michigan’s Gold Apple Award for outstanding student performance in the ‘Most Improved’ category on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) tests. The school has also been honored by the U.S. Department of Education with the Title I Distinguished School Award. Of the 48,000 Title I schools nation-wide, Bahweting was among 95 schools so honored.
As a charter school, Bahweting has the flexibility to offer a curriculum that exceeds the Michigan Core State standards, including exposure to the Anishnabe language, culture and values education. As a BIA tribal school, additional requirements to match curriculum with federal standards for education enhances the educational mission even further.
As a public school academy, Bahweting is open to the community at-large. Students already enrolled have preference in admissions for the next school year. There is an open enrollment period in the Spring for the upcoming school year, contact the school for the exact dates. If the number of new students exceeds the number of available classroom openings, the school utilizes a process to determine how the available spots are filled. Contact the school for specific information regarding this process.
Bay Mills Community College
Bay Mills Community College (BMCC) is located on the southeastern shore of Lake Superior, within the Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As Michigan’s first fully accredited, tribally controlled college.
BMCC meets the educational needs of a wide variety of students, from its remote, rural Main Campus, West Campus, off-campus sites, and online courses. Control is vested in a Board of Regents, which elects the officers of the Board and establishes overall institutional policy. BMCC is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) and is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).
BMCC is one of three tribally controlled colleges in the State of Michigan, and the only community college in Michigan’s Eastern Upper Peninsula; it is committed to providing affordable, culturally relevant, accessible, and high quality educational opportunities to all tribal communities in Michigan and their neighbors. BMCC is also committed to providing leadership in the areas of economic and community development for the Bay Mills Indian Community and the Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP). As a 1994 Land Grant institution, BMCC works closely with land grant partners, such as Michigan State University to provide service and expertise to the Bay Mills Indian Community and the surrounding region. The only other institution of higher education in the EUP is Lake Superior State University (LSSU), which is located 25 miles east in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.
Click here for additional information.