Summary:
ZIP code 46514 in Elkhart, Indiana has two middle schools — West Side Middle School and North Side Middle School — both serving grades 6–8, both part of Elkhart Community Schools. They are almost the same size (569 and 563 students) and serve similar populations, with about 55–57% of students economically disadvantaged. Both schools are rated 1 star and rank in the bottom quarter of Indiana middle schools, so the comparison is about which school does better within a shared set of challenges.
West Side is the stronger of the two on every shared academic measure. Its English language arts proficiency is 25.84% versus 15.80% at North Side, math is 22.40% versus 13.83%, and science is 16.41% versus 10.86%. West Side is also above its district in ELA, while North Side is below the district in every tested ILEARN subject. Attendance follows the same pattern: 26.2% of West Side students are chronically absent versus 32.6% at North Side, and both exceed the 16.7% state rate. Notably, West Side achieves these better results while spending $11,608 per student versus North Side's $13,061, and North Side has the smaller classes (13.6 versus 15.2 students per teacher).
Looking at trends, neither school shows evidence of a turnaround. West Side's percentile has fallen three years running (40 → 31 → 27) and it lost a star; North Side posted its lowest percentile in that window (11). Math is North Side's weakest area and worsens by grade — Grade 8 math is 10.59% — while West Side's math holds roughly steady. Both schools post very high Biology End-of-Course results (78.85% and 74.19%) against a 29.77% district rate, but these likely reflect a small group of accelerated students rather than the general population, and should be read with caution. Parents should focus on attendance and middle-grades math as the clearest areas of need.
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