Best Public Schools in Knightstown, IN

Knightstown, Indiana has four schools — one elementary, one middle, and two high schools — serving about 1,161 students, with three schools in the C A Beard Memorial School Corp district (ranked 205 of 374, 45th percentile, 2 stars) and one in the New Castle Community School Corp district (249 of 374, 33rd percentile, 2 stars). A key structural note for families: Knightstown Elementary School serves PK–3, so grade 3 is its only tested elementary grade, while Knightstown Intermediate School is a middle school serving grades 4–8.

Knightstown Intermediate School has the strongest current school rank of the four: 221 of 486, 55th percentile, 3 stars, up from 294 of 480, 39th percentile, 2 stars the prior year. Its science results are a bright spot — grade 4 at 44.16% versus the state's 43.8% and grade 6 at 44.19% versus the state's 41.2% — but math drops sharply in grades 7 and 8 (25% and 23.44%, versus state figures of 35.9% and 34.2%). Knightstown Elementary School shows the city's strongest math signal, with grade 3 math at 52.44% (above the state's 51.9%) and the lowest chronic absenteeism at 13.6% (district 17.8%, state 16.7%), though grade 3 ELA is 36.14% versus the state's 40.8%. Knightstown High School posts a standout 98.5% graduation rate (state 89.7%) with the lowest student-teacher ratio (12.0) and highest spending ($14,649), but weak test scores, a 1-star rank (298 of 415, 28th percentile), and the highest absenteeism at 23.2%.

New Castle Schools at the Hoosier Youth Challenge Academy is a small, specialized high school of 84 students in a different district, with the highest student-teacher ratio (29.6) and lowest spending ($9,378). Its graduation rate is 56.7%, and its SAT Math is 3.57% versus the state's 25.6%; because enrollment is small, year-to-year swings can be especially volatile. Across the city, resources and outcomes don't move in a simple direction — the highest-spending school has the lowest test scores, while the lower-spending elementary has the strongest math. Note also that the Academy's free/reduced-lunch figure is not reported and should be treated as unknown, not 0%.