Summary:
Zip code 46201 has 10 schools — six elementary, two middle, and two high schools — serving 6,526 students, most of them in Indianapolis Public Schools. The area faces high poverty, with free/reduced lunch averaging 64.3%, and widespread chronic absenteeism, averaging 30.7% across the nine schools that report it, well above the state's 16.7%. High schoolers make up 45.4% of enrollment, and Arsenal Technical High School alone enrolls 2,360 students, about 36.2% of the zip total.
Two schools stand out. H. L. Harshman Middle School is the strongest overall, ranked 63 of 486 schools (87th percentile, 4 stars), with 2025–2026 proficiency of 60.15% in ELA, 48.81% in math, and 46.50% in science, and chronic absenteeism of just 8.4%. Paramount Brookside is the top elementary/K–8 performer, ranked 235 of 1,015 (77th percentile, 4 stars), with 59.13% ELA and 68.11% math, scoring above the state at every tested ELA and math grade level. Both show strong results are possible here.
Elsewhere, Theodore Potter School 74 has the best attendance (11.5% chronic absenteeism) and smallest classes (9.4 students per teacher), but its proficiency remains low (24.44% ELA, 23.33% math). Most other elementary and middle schools are well below state averages, averaging 27.79% ELA, 28.94% math, and 23.28% science. Both high schools lag: Purdue Polytechnic High School Ind graduates 87.5% of students and Arsenal Technical 77.3%, versus the state's 89.7%, with Arsenal ranked in the 5th percentile and carrying the zip's highest absenteeism at 46.6%.
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