Summary:
MSD Wayne Township in the Indianapolis area has two middle schools, both serving grades 7–8: Chapel Hill 7th & 8th Grade Center with 1,143 students and Lynhurst 7th & 8th Grade Center with 1,135 students. Together they enroll 2,278 students, making this an unusually direct comparison: same district, same grade span, and nearly identical size. Both are rated 1 star, and both sit in the bottom quartile of Indiana schools for 2025–2026 — Chapel Hill at 375 of 486 and Lynhurst at 372 of 486, each at the 23rd percentile. The district overall is rated 292 of 374, in the 22nd percentile.
The two schools differ mainly in which subjects they do better in. Chapel Hill has the stronger English language arts results, at 26.45% proficient across all grades versus Lynhurst's 25.54%, and it also leads in 7th-grade ELA (28.77% vs. 25.15%). Chapel Hill also has lower chronic absenteeism (20.3% vs. 22.5%) and is the only one of the two below the district rate of 22.1%. Lynhurst leads in Math across every measure — 16.42% vs. 14.77% all grades, 17.18% vs. 15.13% in 7th grade, and 15.71% vs. 14.42% in 8th grade. Lynhurst's standout result is Biology End of Course at 92.75% proficient, far above Chapel Hill's 57.76% and the district's 25.20%; this likely reflects a select group of students taking the course early.
Both schools have real challenges. Core ELA and Math proficiency is well below Indiana's rates in both grades — for example, 8th-grade Math is 14.42% at Chapel Hill and 15.71% at Lynhurst against a state rate of 34.20%. Chronic absenteeism at both schools exceeds the state's 16.7%. Lynhurst serves more students from low-income families (77.62% free/reduced lunch vs. 66.49%), spends more per student ($14,082 vs. $12,651), and has smaller classes (15.1 vs. 17.6 students per teacher). Encouragingly, both schools improved in ELA and Math from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, with Lynhurst posting the larger ELA gain.
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