Summary:
ZIP code 47712 contains two middle schools serving grades 6–8 — Helfrich Park STEM Academy (509 students) and Perry Heights Middle School (471 students) — both part of the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp, together enrolling 980 middle-school students. The district overall ranks 258 of 374 in Indiana, at the 31st percentile with 2 stars, and that context applies equally to both schools.
Perry Heights is the clear standout. It holds 4 stars in all three years of rank history and currently ranks 84 of 486, the 83rd percentile. It is above the state in every reported grade-level test, with 6th-grade ELA essentially tied with the state at 41.38% versus 41.30%. Its strongest results are ELA 8 at 58.93% and ELA 7 at 54.05%. Chronic absenteeism is 12.4%, well below both the district (21.5%) and state (16.7%), and its free/reduced lunch rate of 36.52% is lower than Helfrich's 49.71%. By contrast, Helfrich has declined steadily, falling from 105 of 491 (79th percentile, 4 stars) in 2023–2024 to 248 of 486 (49th percentile, 2 stars) in 2025–2026.
Across ELA, Math and Science, Perry Heights outperforms Helfrich by 14.66 to 17.02 percentage points. Helfrich is below the state in every reported grade-level test except Math 8, where it scores 35.03% versus the state's 34.2%; its 6th-grade science proficiency of 34.03% is below the state's 41.2% and far below Perry Heights' 50.34%. Resource differences are small, though: Perry Heights spends $12,378 per student versus Helfrich's $11,864, and their student–teacher ratios are nearly identical at 15.2 and 15.5, so spending and class size alone do not explain the gap. For families in this ZIP code, Perry Heights offers stable, high-performing results, while Helfrich is closer to district norms and below state proficiency in most tested areas.
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