Summary:
New Ross, Indiana is served by a single public school — Walnut Elementary School — an elementary building covering grades PK–5 with 166 students, part of the South Montgomery Com School Corp. Because there is only one school in the city, the most useful comparisons are Walnut against its own district, against the state, and against its own past performance.
Walnut's profile is mixed. Its attendance is a real strength: chronic absenteeism was 11.1% in 2024–2025, below the district's 13.3% and the state's 16.7%. Class sizes also look favorable, with a student-teacher ratio of 13, and per-student spending was $12,947 in 2023–2024. Third grade is the academic bright spot — in 2025–2026, 3rd grade ELA proficiency was 50%, above the district's 48.95% and the state's 40.8%, while 3rd grade math was 66.67%, essentially tied with the district's 66.43% and well above the state's 51.9%. In the prior year, all-grades math (62.71%) was above the district's 59.56%.
The concerns center on 2025–2026. Walnut's rank fell to 521st of 1,015 schools, or the 49th percentile with 2 stars, down from the 67th and 69th percentiles with 3 stars in the two prior years. That year, all-grades proficiency fell below the district in ELA, Math, and Science. Math dropped from 62.71% to 48.78% year over year — a 13.93-point decline versus the district's 3.04-point dip. Fifth grade math (33.33%) and social studies (29.17%) are the weakest results, far behind the district and state, and 4th grade ELA and math also trail state averages. Note that with only 166 students, grade-level percentages rest on small cohorts and can swing sharply year to year; one year of data is not a definitive trend.
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