Cowan Community School Corp

The Cowan Community School Corp in Indiana is a small district with just two schools — one elementary and one high school — serving 727 students in total. Cowan Elementary School covers grades K–6 with 409 students, and Cowan High School covers grades 7–12 with 318 students. The district as a whole ranks 192 of 374 statewide, in the 49th percentile with 2 stars, and its schools serve a substantial share of students from lower-income families: 54.03% at the elementary and 47.17% at the high school receive free or reduced-price lunch.

Cowan Elementary is the standout. It ranks in the 64th percentile with 3 stars in 2025–2026, up from the 47th percentile and 2 stars the year before. Its all-grade ILEARN results are above the district average in both ELA (39.91% vs 35.01%) and math (53.51% vs 43.02%), and 6th grade math is exceptional at 65.38% compared with the state's 40.2%. Chronic absenteeism is very low at 5.7%, well below the district's 11.2% and the state's 16.7%. The main soft spot is ELA in grades 4 and 5, which falls below the state.

Cowan High presents a more mixed picture. It ranks in the 51st percentile with 3 stars and graduates 92.3% of students, above Indiana's 89.7%. But chronic absenteeism is 18.2%, higher than the state, and math is the clearest weakness: SAT Math proficiency is 15.09% versus 25.6% statewide, while SAT reading is close to the state at 50.94% versus 51.9%. Its 7th and 8th grade ILEARN results also trail the state in both ELA and math.