Best Public Schools in Zip Code 47421

ZIP code 47421 — Bedford, in Lawrence County, Indiana — is home to seven schools serving students from prekindergarten through 12th grade: five elementary or K‑8 campuses, one middle school, and one high school, together enrolling roughly 3,556 students, with six schools in North Lawrence Com Schools and one independent charter, Lawrence County Independent Schools. The district carries a single rank of 178th of 374 (52nd percentile, 3 stars), but its individual schools range from the 83rd to the 31st percentile, so district averages say little about any one building.

Parkview Elementary School is the clear standout: 4 stars in all three years, at the 83rd percentile (top ~17% of Indiana elementaries), beating the state in every tested grade and subject while serving the ZIP's second-highest low-income share (71.21%) with the smallest classes (12.1:1). Needmore Elementary School is a solid 3 stars but sliding (66th → 57th percentile). Shawswick Elementary School and Lincoln Elementary School sit at 2 stars, Shawswick with the weakest reading in the ZIP and Lincoln with the highest poverty (74.92%). Bedford Middle School is the only school to improve a star rating (2 → 3), and Bedford-North Lawrence High School has the ZIP's lowest absenteeism (7.1%) and a 90.6% graduation rate, though its SAT math trails the state.

For parents, three patterns matter most. Poverty does not predict performance here: Parkview and Lincoln serve similar low-income populations but land at opposite ends of the rankings. Fifth-grade math is a sharp weak spot at Shawswick and Lincoln, where scores fall to 4.69% and 11.11% against a state figure of 42. And spending tracks neither results nor improvement — the highest-spending school, Lawrence County Independent Schools, has the lowest district rank, while the lowest-spending school, Bedford Middle, is the one gaining ground.