Summary:
Waldron, Indiana is a small community served by two public schools in the Shelby Eastern Schools district: Waldron Elementary School, which covers prekindergarten through 5th grade with about 298 students, and Waldron Junior-Senior High School, which serves grades 6 through 12 with about 323 students. Together they enroll roughly 621 students, and because there is no standalone middle school, the junior-senior high covers the middle grades as well.
The two schools have opposite academic profiles. The elementary school is the standout in math and science: 50.69% proficient in math and 57.78% in science, well above the district's 39.97% and 42.94%. Its weak spot is English language arts at 28.97%, below the district. The junior-senior high shows the reverse — ELA at 33.77% is slightly above district, but math is 27.33% and science 31.25%, both below district, with SAT Math at 12.5% and Biology EOC at 20.93%. The high school does have a strong 93.4% graduation rate, above both district and state. Attendance differs sharply: chronic absenteeism is just 2.6% at the elementary school versus 12.8% at the junior-senior high (district 8.1%, state 16.7%).
Both schools are rated 2 stars in 2025–26 while the district is rated 3 stars, ranked 188 of 374. The elementary school slipped from 3 stars to 2, while the junior-senior high recovered from 1 star to 2. Interestingly, the junior-senior high spends more per student ($12,321 versus $10,739) and has a lower student-teacher ratio (12.6 versus 17.0), yet the elementary school posts stronger math and science results and far lower absenteeism. Free/reduced lunch rates are nearly identical at 42.72% and 42.95%, so the schools serve similar populations. For parents, the key targets are elementary ELA and secondary math, SAT math, and science.
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