Summary:
ZIP code 46407 in Gary, Indiana contains three public elementary schools — Frankie Woods McCullough Academy (PK–5, 472 students), Daniel Hale Williams Elementary School (K–5, 450 students), and Mary M Bethune Early Child Dev Center (PK–K, 231 students) — all operated by Gary Community School Corp, which ranks 365th of 374 Indiana districts and where all three schools show 0 stars.
The two K–5 schools are strong in opposite subjects, so no single "best school" label fits. Daniel Hale Williams Elementary School has the higher English/language arts proficiency (13.98% vs. 9.73%, against 8.46% district-wide), while Frankie Woods McCullough Academy leads in Math by more than three times (17.26% vs. 4.84%) and in Science (13.33% vs. 10.53%). Frankie Woods is also the only school improving in every tested subject year over year, more than doubling its Math score and climbing from last place among all 1,011 ranked Indiana schools to the 5th percentile. Grade-level results swing widely at both schools — Frankie Woods' 4th grade Math is 35% while its 5th grade Math is 5.75%, and Daniel Hale Williams' 5th grade Math is a reported 0% — which likely reflects small class groups rather than school-wide change.
Mary M Bethune Early Child Dev Center looks different on every measure: chronic absenteeism of 26.6%, far below the district's 63.6%, the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (43.72%), and the highest student-teacher ratio (23.1). Because it serves only PK and K it has no test scores, and its younger, voluntarily enrolled population is not directly comparable to the K–5 schools. The biggest shared challenge is attendance: at 57.4% and 59.5%, more than half of students at the two tested schools are chronically absent, roughly 3.5 times the state rate — a disadvantage that compounds with low proficiency. Spending is comparatively high at $17,091–$18,045 per student with ratios near 16:1, suggesting class size and funding are not the main constraints.
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