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What's something Decatur Middle School does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,000
Middle
DISTRICT 721 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MSD DECATUR TOWNSHIP·NCES 180264000313
Decatur Middle School
5108 S High School Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46221 · (317) 856-5274 · Marion County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,000 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% of Indiana public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Indiana public middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.6:1
64 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.3:1 · STATE 15.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
60%
597 students
DISTRICT 61% · STATE 50%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 502 | 50% |
| Grade 8 | 498 | 50% |
Student demographics
66%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 67% · STATE 57% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Decatur Middle School→Decatur Central High School
Based on grade levels within MSD Decatur Township. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ILEARN 2024-25 . % At or Above ProficiencyEnglish Language Arts
22.1%
IN avg 39.2%
Math
12.9%
IN avg 41.1%
What this means: On the ILEARN, Indiana's statewide test, about 22 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 13 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Indiana schools, those numbers are about 39 and 41.
Source: ILEARN. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of IN schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
17.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.3%
based on IN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 17% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 33% typical for Indiana schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Decatur Middle School
Decatur Middle School's state test result (17.5% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decatur Middle School this school | 1,000 | 59.7% | 17.5% |
| Memorial Park Middle School Fort Wayne | 627 | 61.1% | 40.0% |
| Highland Middle School Anderson | 916 | 67.0% | 15.3% |
| Plaza Park International Prep Acad Evansville | 610 | 56.1% | 30.3% |
| Lafayette Sunnyside Intermediate Lafayette | 1,031 | 65.7% | 28.4% |
| Parkview Middle School Jeffersonville | 656 | 65.2% | 31.6% |
Matched among Indiana middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Decatur Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Indiana | In Marion County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 17.5% | #286 of 324 | #19 of 33 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 12.9% | #291 of 325 | #20 of 33 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 22.1% | #283 of 325 | #20 of 33 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,000 | #40 of 334 | #14 of 37 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.6:1 | #187 of 314 | #22 of 35 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.3% | #53 of 315 | #17 of 35 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 59.7% | #86 of 330 | #22 of 36 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +0.6% | #106 of 110 | #14 of 14 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,000
-118 (-11%) vs 2020
+21% since 1990-91, when it was 828
Student : Teacher
15.6:1
was 16.9:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,000 | 64 | 15.6:1 | 60% (597) |
| 2023-24 | 985 | 66 | 14.9:1 | 81% (801) |
| 2022-23 | 1,060 | 64 | 16.6:1 | 75% (797) |
| 2020-21 | 1,118 | 66 | 16.9:1 | 59% (657) |
| 2017-18 | 994 | 53.3 | 18.6:1 | 68% (680) |
| 2015-16 | 945 | 51 | 18.5:1 | 68% (646) |
| 2010-11 | 983 | 46 | 21.4:1 | 62% (609) |
| 2000-01 | 1,336 | 70 | 19.1:1 | 38% (509) |
| 1990-91 | 828 | 43 | 19.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Decatur Middle School.
About Decatur Middle School
Decatur Middle School is a high-enrollment middle school in Indianapolis, Indiana, (ZIP code 46221). It had 1,000 students in 2024-25, spanning grades 7 through 8. By comparison, middle schools in Indiana enroll about 594 students on average.
MSD Decatur Township, which runs Decatur Middle School, has 9 schools and 6,485 students.
The student body at Decatur Middle School has no majority group. White students lead at 47%. The next largest groups are 30% Black, 17% Hispanic, and 6% multiracial. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 66%.
The student-to-teacher ratio at Decatur Middle School is 15.6:1, based on 64 full-time-equivalent teachers. It is about the same as the 15.6:1 average for middle schools in Indiana. Decatur Middle School counts 60% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is in line with the 60% average for public schools in Marion County.
Decatur Middle School earns a D on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 6% of Indiana public middle schools.
A school in Indiana with Decatur Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 33.3%. Decatur Middle School scores 17.5%.
The county, Marion County, is where the school is located. The median household earns about $66,346 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and about 12% of people live in poverty. Counting Decatur Middle School, Marion County has 274 public schools.
Decatur Middle School is less than a tenth of a mile from Decatur High Ability Academy, its nearest public school. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Decatur Middle School's average proficiency of 17.5% compares with 34.0% for its nearest scored neighbors.
NCES assigns Decatur Middle School the locale City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment fell by 11% across 4 years, from 1,118 in 2020-21 to 1,000 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 16.9:1 in 2020-21 to 15.6:1 in 2024-25.
People who know Decatur Middle School can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Marion County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
975,809
Census ACS
Median income
$66,346
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
12%
Below federal line
Schools in county
274
161,456 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in MSD Decatur Township
- Decatur Central High SchoolHigh · 1,974 students
- Blue AcademyElementary · 687 students
- Lynwood ElementaryElementary · 583 students
- West Newton Elementary SchoolElementary · 559 students
- Valley Mills Elementary SchoolElementary · 554 students
- Gold AcademyElementary · 529 students
Other schools in Indianapolis
- Indiana Connections AcademyCombined · 5,376 students
- North Central High SchoolHigh · 3,682 students
- Franklin Central High SchoolHigh · 3,438 students
- Warren Central High SchoolHigh · 3,391 students
- Ben Davis High SchoolHigh · 3,315 students
- Pike High SchoolHigh · 3,188 students
Other Decatur Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Decatur Middle. Decatur Middle School is the largest of the 3.
- Decatur Middle SchoolDecatur, AL · 818 students
- DECATUR MIDDLE SCHOOLDECATUR, AR · 162 students
Nearby schools
- Decatur High Ability Academy0.1 mi · 103
- Excel Center - Decatur0.1 mi · 259
- Valley Mills Elementary School0.1 mi · 554
- Decatur Central High School0.2 mi · 1,974
- Damar Charter Academy0.8 mi · 180
- Blue Academy1.3 mi · 687
Frequently asked questions
About Decatur Middle SchoolHow large is Decatur Middle School?
Decatur Middle School enrolls approximately 1,000 students in grades 07-08.
What age range does Decatur Middle School serve?
Decatur Middle School serves students from grade 07 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Decatur Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Decatur Middle School is approximately 15.6:1 (64 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Decatur Middle School?
Student demographics at Decatur Middle School are roughly 47% White, 17% Hispanic, 30% Black, 0% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Decatur Middle School in?
Decatur Middle School is part of MSD Decatur Township.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.