Blue River Valley Schools

Blue River Valley Schools is a small Indiana district serving roughly 620 students across just two schools: Blue River Valley Elementary School for grades PK–6 (331 students) and Blue River Valley Junior-Senior High School for grades 7–12 (289 students). The district is ranked 236 of 374 Indiana districts, placing it in the 37th percentile with 2 stars — a single number that masks two very different school stories.

The elementary school is the district's academic standout and is improving. Its state rank climbed from the 47th percentile (2 stars) to the 63rd percentile (3 stars) over three years. Math is its strength: all-grade proficiency is 56.63%, well above the district's 43.15%, and every tested grade from 3rd through 6th beats the state in math. Social studies is also strong, with 5th grade scoring 55% versus the state's 47.2%. The clear weak spot is 4th grade English/language arts, where proficiency is only 21.62% compared with the state's 42.2% — a gap of more than 20 points.

The high school is a split picture. Its 100% graduation rate far exceeds the state's 89.7%, and Biology performance jumped from 36.96% to 62.16% year over year. But proficiency is low elsewhere: all-grade ELA is 17.33% and math 13.33%, 8th grade math is just 4.76% against the state's 34.2%, and SAT Math is 15.52% versus 25.6% statewide. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at both schools — 18.7% elementary and 20.6% high school, both above the state's 16.7%. Notably, the high school spends more per student ($12,576) than the elementary ($11,004) yet posts weaker test results. For families, the key takeaways are elementary math success, high school math and ELA gaps, the 4th grade ELA weakness, and absenteeism district-wide.