Decatur County Community Schools

Decatur County Community Schools serves 1,764 students in four Indiana schools: two elementary schools and two junior-senior high schools serving grades 7–12, with no standalone middle or alternative schools. The district ranks 117 of 374, in the 69th percentile with 3 stars. Enrollment is 963 elementary and 801 junior-senior high students: North Decatur Elementary School has 496 students (K–6), South Decatur Elementary School has 467 (PK–6), North Decatur Junior-Senior High School has 441 (7–12), and South Decatur Junior-Senior High School has 360 (7–12).

North Decatur Elementary School is the flagship: 4 stars, 84th percentile, chronic absenteeism 4.8% (district 9.8%, state 16.7%), and all-grade proficiency ELA 56.88%, math 59.69%, science 51.57%, above district. South Decatur Elementary School is weaker: 3 stars, about 51st–52nd percentile, absenteeism 8.7%, ELA 43.33%, math 47.92%, science 35.65%, and highest free/reduced lunch at 59.1% vs North Elementary’s 43.15%. Among high schools, North Decatur Junior-Senior High School has higher graduation 96.8% vs South High’s 83.0% (district 90.6%, state 89.7%), higher ELA 52.03% vs 41.74%, higher math 36.59% vs 18.26%, and higher SAT reading 58.11% vs 51.61%. South Decatur Junior-Senior High School rebounded from 2 stars/38th percentile to 3 stars/54th percentile, and SAT math improved from 9.38% to 20.97%, but its 8th grade math is 10% vs state 34.2%.

Math remains the district’s biggest high school weakness: district all-grade math is 46.62%, but North High is 36.59% and South High 18.26%. Biology fell sharply at both high schools—North High from 57.95% to 39.47%, South High from 50.79% to 31.43%. All four schools are below Indiana’s 16.7% chronic absenteeism rate, but North High is 16.1%, above the district’s 9.8% and South High’s 10.7%. South High has the lowest student-teacher ratio, 9.1, and highest per-student spending, $13,089, yet the lowest math proficiency and graduation rate, suggesting spending and class size alone do not explain performance. Overall, North Decatur schools generally outperform South Decatur schools, North Elementary is strongest, and both high schools show improvement in some areas but still face math, science/Biology, and for South High, graduation challenges.