South Dearborn Middle School

South Dearborn Middle School is a grades 6–8 school in Aurora, Indiana, serving 288 students as the only middle school in the South Dearborn Community School Corp. In 2025-2026, the school ranks 321st of 486 Indiana schools (34th percentile, 2 stars), and it stands out for a striking tension: chronic absenteeism is below the state average, class sizes are smaller than most neighbors, and per-student spending is the highest of any peer except one—yet proficiency results sit at or near the bottom of the local group and have fallen for three consecutive years.

The school’s rank slid from the 61st percentile in 2022-2023 to 34th now, losing 27 percentile points—the only peer moving in this direction. In 2025-2026 ILEARN, ELA proficiency was 31.11%, math 21.85%, and science 30.95%, all below its district and the state. Math has been stuck in the low 20s for four years, while ELA fell nearly 19 points since 2022-2023. The weakest spots are 6th-grade ELA (21.43%, nearly 20 points under state) and 8th-grade math (15.83%, more than 18 points under state); the bright spot is 7th-grade ELA at 38.71%, essentially at the state level. Biology end-of-course results are far above district and state—but a swing from 100% to 68.97% signals a very small, selective cohort. Chronic absenteeism tripled in one year to 13.4%, now the highest among peer schools, even as the district’s rate improved. Per-student spending rose 27.8% in four years, yet rank fell.

Compared with nearby schools, the resource advantage is inverted. Greendale Middle School, 4.7 miles away, spends $2,755 less per student and has larger classes, yet outperforms South Dearborn on every academic measure and attendance. South Ripley Junior High School, with the highest poverty in the group, ranks at the 86th percentile. Ohio County Middle School, with a similar free/reduced lunch rate, spends $3,529 less and lands at a nearly identical 33rd percentile. East Central Middle School spends $10,561 per student with 15.7:1 classes and outperforms South Dearborn by roughly 16 points in ELA and 26 in math. The clearest signals for parents: a tripling of chronic absenteeism coinciding with the latest score decline, a four-year math floor that extra spending has not moved, and a 7th-grade ELA result at state average showing the school can produce grade-level work.