Summary:
Decatur, Indiana, a small city in Adams County, is served by a single public elementary school: Bellmont Elementary, which enrolls 684 students in grades PK–5 as part of North Adams Community Schools. Because the city has only one elementary school, there are no in-city comparisons to make; the most useful benchmarks are the district, the state, and the school's own recent history.
That history shows steady improvement. Bellmont's state rank moved from 592 of 1,011 (41st percentile, 2 stars) in 2023–2024, to 544 of 1,005 (46th percentile, 2 stars) in 2024–2025, to 502 of 1,015 (51st percentile, 3 stars) in 2025–2026. Math is driving the climb: all-grades proficiency rose from 38.51% to 49.65% in one year, about 8 points above the district's 41.64%. Science (40.82%) also edges out the district (38.34%). Reading is the weak spot — ELA slipped from 38.18% to 37.06% and trails the district's 40.57%, and the gap to the state widens by grade: 39.78% in 3rd (−1.0 vs. state), 37.76% in 4th (−4.4), and 33.68% in 5th (−8.5). The strongest single result is 3rd grade math at 59.14%, 7.2 points above the state; the weakest is 5th grade ELA. Performance declines across every subject as students advance.
Context metrics look favorable. Chronic absenteeism is 12.6%, better than the district's 13.5% and the state's 16.7%, even though 54.82% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Per-student spending is $11,404 and the student-teacher ratio is 13.1. The district's own rating (rank 100 of 374, 73rd percentile, 4 stars) is higher, though it draws on a different comparison pool. Overall: a rising school with strong math and attendance, and a clear opportunity in upper-grade literacy.
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