Purdue Polytechnic High School South Bend

There is one school in this area: Purdue Polytechnic High School South Bend, a public high school serving grades 9–12 in South Bend, Indiana, and it is also its own single-school district, Purdue Polytechnic High School South Bend. With 138 students, this is a very small school, so the school and district numbers are the same and there are no other local schools to compare it with. The profile is mixed: it has a low student-teacher ratio of 9.8 in 2024–2025 and recent improvement in SAT Evidence-based Reading and Writing, but it also faces serious challenges in absenteeism, math, and overall accountability.

Compared with Indiana, the school’s graduation rate is 80.0% versus the state’s 89.7%, and chronic absenteeism is 58.3% versus 16.7% statewide—more than three times the state rate. SAT Math proficiency is very low at 7.69% in 2025–2026 and 3.85% in 2024–2025, while the state is around 25%. SAT ELA improved from 23.08% in 2024–2025 to 46.15% in 2025–2026, now within about 5.75 points of the state’s 51.9%. Biology ILEARN End-of-Course proficiency is 35.14%, below the state’s 45.6%. About 61.59% of students were economically disadvantaged by the free/reduced lunch measure in 2024–2025, and per-student spending was $12,394 in 2023–2024.

Accountability rankings have moved around: the school was at 2 stars and the 32nd percentile in 2025–2026, after 1 star and the 19th percentile in 2024–2025, and 2 stars and the 35th percentile in 2023–2024. The district summary separately shows 1 star, rank 271 of 374, and the 28th percentile. For parents, the main takeaways are the small, staff-rich setting and the strong ELA gain, balanced against very high absenteeism and very low math proficiency. Because only 138 students are enrolled, year-to-year percentages can shift with just a few students, so recent changes should be viewed cautiously.