Indianapolis Public Schools

Indianapolis Public Schools covers 49 schools serving elementary through high school grades in Indianapolis — 36 elementary, 6 middle, 4 high, and 3 alternative — and the district as a whole ranks 316th of 374 Indiana districts, in the 16th percentile with a 1-star rating, so most schools here are working from a low baseline. District averages trail the state nearly everywhere: graduation 80.6% vs. 89.7%, chronic absenteeism 32.2% vs. 16.7%, and SAT math 5.38% vs. 25.6%. Blank or dashed values are suppressed by the state and should be read as unknown, not zero, and the three tiny Impact Academy alternative schools are not comparable to traditional schools.

The bright spots are real, but they are exceptions. Merle Sidener Academy 59 is the top-ranked school in the list — 65th of 1,015 elementaries, 94th percentile, 5 stars, with 60.15% ELA, 75.94% math, and 72.73% science. Joseph J. Bingham School 84 is also 5-star and has the list's lowest chronic absenteeism at 4.3%, while Mary Nicholson School 70, Benjamin Harrison School 2, George W. Julian School 57, and high-poverty William McKinley School 39 beat district averages. H. L. Harshman Middle School is the clearest turnaround, climbing from 397th of 491 to 63rd of 486. At the other end, Arlington Middle School reports 0% science proficiency, and James Whitcomb Riley School 43 and Robert Lee Frost School 106 rank near the bottom of 1,015 elementaries. George Washington High School has the lowest graduation rate at 60.1%.

Two patterns matter most for families. Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide crisis — many schools exceed 40%, and high schools are hit hardest, including Shortridge High School at 57.3% despite having the best high school test scores here. Also, spending and small classes do not guarantee results: Harshman spends the most at $31,496 per student and performs well, while higher-spending Arlington and Northwest Middle perform poorly and lower-spending Bingham excels.