Summary:
ZIP code 46168 in Plainfield is home to five elementary schools serving kindergarten through 5th grade — Central Elementary School, Clarks Creek Elementary, Van Buren Elementary School, Guilford Elementary and Brentwood Elementary School — with about 2,461 students total and enrollments between 420 and 549, so no school is dramatically larger than another. All five belong to Plainfield Community School Corp, a 5-star district ranked 22nd of 374 statewide, meaning any differences between these schools are differences within one district rather than variations in district quality.
Academically, Van Buren Elementary School posts the strongest overall profile — the top all-grades Math (69.92%) and Science (65%) scores and the only record of climbing its rank percentile every year (83 to 89). Guilford Elementary leads in English/language arts (65.56%), Brentwood Elementary School has the highest 3rd grade Math (80.88%) and smallest classes, and Central Elementary School recorded the group's best-ever rank placement (#90 of 1,005, 91st percentile, 5 stars) but is the only school that lost ground this year. Clarks Creek Elementary remains the lowest performer but made the biggest single-year jump, rising from the 48th to the 73rd percentile.
Three things stand out for parents. First, every one of these schools beats the state average in all eight reported grade-level subjects, often by 20 or more points. Second, 5th grade is the group's soft spot — math slips from 3rd to 5th grade at all five schools, and 5th grade Social Studies shows the smallest gap over the state. Third, per-student spending and chronic absenteeism do not line up neatly with achievement here: the highest-spending school posts the lowest proficiency, and the school with the most absenteeism is the top academic performer, while all five sit well below the district's 11.7% and the state's 16.7% absenteeism rates.
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