Best Public Schools in Zip Code 46785

ZIP code 46785 (Saint Joe, IN) is home to just one public school — Riverdale Elementary School — an elementary school serving grades K–6 with 300 students in the DeKalb County Eastern Com School District. Because it is the only school in the area, there are no other local schools to compare it against, so the most useful benchmarks are the district and the state of Indiana. The data covers ILEARN proficiency, school rankings, chronic absenteeism, free/reduced lunch, per-student spending, and student-teacher ratio.

Riverdale has earned a four-star rating for three consecutive years (2023–2024, 2024–2025, and 2025–2026), ranking 202 of 1,011 (80th percentile), 270 of 1,005 (73rd percentile), and 251 of 1,015 (75th percentile) respectively — all above its district, which is rated 3 stars at the 58th percentile. In 2025–2026, all-grade proficiency beat the district in ELA (45.34% vs. 33.74%), math (54.66% vs. 38.17%), and science (58.67% vs. 38.02%). Grade-level bright spots include 5th-grade social studies at 77.27% versus 47.2% statewide, 4th-grade math at 66.67% versus 52.0%, and 5th-grade math at 68.18% versus 42.0%. The clearest weakness is 3rd-grade math, at 38.10%, just below the district's 39.09% and well below the state's 51.9%.

Attendance is a major strength: chronic absenteeism is 6.7%, less than half the district's 14.6% and the state's 16.7%. About 41.67% of students receive free or reduced lunch, per-student spending is $10,838, and the student-teacher ratio is 17.8. With only 300 students, individual grade results can swing from year to year, so multi-year trends matter more than any single year — for example, all-grade science slipped from 64.63% to 58.67% but remains far above the district.