Barker Middle School

Barker Middle School is a public middle school located in Michigan City, Indiana, serving grades 7-8 with a total enrollment of 378 students. The school is part of the Michigan City Area Schools district, which is ranked 279 out of 380 districts in Indiana and has a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Barker Middle School consistently underperforms compared to the state and its own district averages on ILEARN assessments for English Language Arts and Math. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 26.82% of Barker students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 27.96% for the district and 37.9-42.7% statewide. In Math, only 15.45% of Barker students were proficient or better, compared to 28.88% for the district. Barker Middle School also has high chronic absenteeism rates, ranging from 19.2% to 33.8% over the past few years, significantly higher than the state average. Additionally, the school has a very high percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 65.87% to 79.07% over the past few years, indicating the socioeconomic challenges faced by the student population.

When comparing Barker Middle School to other nearby schools, such as Martin T Krueger Middle School, New Prairie Middle School, and Willowcreek Middle School, Barker consistently underperforms on academic measures, has higher chronic absenteeism, and serves a more economically disadvantaged student population. Despite the school's relatively high spending per student and low student-teacher ratio, its performance has remained stagnant or even declined over the past several years, with no clear signs of improvement in academic outcomes, attendance, or other key metrics.