Summary:
Columbus, Indiana has 15 schools — 10 elementary, 2 middle, and 3 high — serving about 11,046 students, with 14 of them in Bartholomew Con School Corp (ranked 162 of 374 Indiana districts, 3 stars) and one independent school, Excel Center - Bartholomew County.
The academic standouts are clear. CSA Lincoln Campus is the city's top performer: 5 stars, ranked 50 of 1,015 elementary schools (95th percentile) for three straight years, with ELA 74.4%, Math 74.88%, and low chronic absenteeism of 6.7%. Southside Elementary School (4 stars, 105 of 1,015) and Rockcreek Elementary School (4 stars, the city's lowest absenteeism at 5.8%) also stand out. At the secondary level, Columbus North High School (4 stars, 77 of 415) posts SAT ERW 59.13% and SAT Math 34.22%, both above district and state, with a 91.2% graduation rate, while Central Middle School climbed to 142 of 486. Excel Center is a special case — 49 students, 67.35% free/reduced lunch, and an 8.3% graduation rate as reported — with school-level test scores unavailable, so it is not directly comparable.
The spread elsewhere is wide: ELA proficiency runs from CSA Lincoln's 74.4% to Mount Healthy Elementary School's 21.74%. Schools with higher poverty, such as Clifty Creek Elementary School (65.96% FRL) and Lillian Schmitt Elementary School (61.79%), tend to score lower, though Mount Healthy is an exception. Chronic absenteeism ranges from 5.8% at Rockcreek to 26.6% at Columbus East High School. Spending and class size show little relationship to results: L F Smith Elementary School spends the most ($14,082 per student) with low proficiency, while CSA Lincoln has a high student-teacher ratio (19.6) and top scores. Middle-school Biology EOC results of 100% and 98.15% reflect small testing cohorts and should not be read as overall science performance.
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