Schools in Zip Code 47371

ZIP code 47371 in Portland, Indiana is served by three public schools — all part of Jay School Corporation — that together cover the entire K–12 pipeline: East Elementary School (K–2), East Jay Elementary (3–6), and Jay County Junior/Senior High School (grades 7–12 housed in one building, so the area has no separate middle school). Total enrollment is about 2,131 students, with roughly 57% of them in the secondary building. Test results cover two school years, attendance and class size are from 2024‑25, and spending figures are from 2023‑24.

Academically, East Jay Elementary is the standout. Its all-grades scores beat the district in ELA (44.47 vs 39.8), math (48.54 vs 43.01), and science (40.61 vs 40.22), and it topped the state in 3rd grade ELA (+9.2 points), 3rd grade math (+7.8), 6th grade math (+13.7), and 6th grade ELA (+6.4), while holding chronic absenteeism to 14.6% — better than the state's 16.7%. East Elementary has the area's lowest absenteeism (13.3%), smallest classes (12.2 students per teacher), and highest per-student spending ($12,124), but as a K–2 building it has no state test results, so its academics cannot be measured. Jay County Junior/Senior High posts a 93.7% graduation rate, four points above the state, and its state rank climbed from the 51st to the 64th percentile over three years, yet it carries by far the worst absenteeism at 29.6%, roughly 1.8 times the state rate.

Two patterns are worth watching. Absenteeism jumps sharply after elementary school (13.3% → 14.6% → 29.6%), and proficiency slides as students move up inside the same building — ELA falls from 47.66 in 6th grade to 28.02 in 8th, which is 16 points below the state and the largest gap in the data. SAT math, near 22%, is the lowest recurring measure. Notably, the two elementaries serve similar poverty levels (about 65% free/reduced lunch), yet one is the strongest performer and the secondary school, with the lowest such rate (52.2%), has the weakest overall proficiency. Funding also skews to the earliest grades, leaving East Jay — the top academic performer — with the least money and the largest classes.