Summary:
ZIP code 46637 is home to two public schools, both part of the South Bend Community School Corp, a district ranked 320 out of 374 in Indiana — the 14th percentile, with a 1-star rating. Darden Elementary School serves K–5 with 375 students, while Clay International Academy serves PK–8 with 496 students, making it the only option here with middle grades. Both schools hold a 1-star rating.
Within this small ZIP, Darden is the stronger academic performer. Its all-grade math proficiency of 22.93% beats the district's 18.46% and is more than 10 points above Clay's 12.39%, and its 4th-grade math result of 28.33% is the highest single score in the data — though still about 24 points below the state's 52%. Darden outperformed Clay in seven of the eight comparable grade-subject tests, the lone exception being 3rd-grade ELA. It also improved in math from 18.88% to 22.93%, while Clay's math was nearly flat. Clay's relative bright spot is 6th grade, where ELA, math, and science all sit above district averages, but its 7th- and 8th-grade math results are very low at 8.96% and 10.67%, and its lowest result overall is 4th-grade math at 5.88%.
Attendance runs opposite to test scores. Clay's chronic absenteeism is 24.5%, well below Darden's 36.8% and the district's 40.3%, though both schools are far above the state's 16.7%. Darden has a lower free/reduced lunch rate (53.33% vs. 63.1%), higher per-student spending ($16,620 vs. $14,814), and a slightly smaller student-teacher ratio. Rank history shows Darden moving from the 11th to the 14th percentile between 2023–24 and 2025–26, while Clay slipped from the 18th to the 13th. Every comparable score at both schools remains below the state, often by 20–30 points.
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