Dickinson Academy

Dickinson Academy is a primary school of intimate scale in South Bend, Indiana, overseen by South Bend Community School Corp, caters to 309 students in grades K through 8. That puts it 29% below the typical public school in Indiana, which averages around 436 students.

Across the 29 schools in South Bend Community School Corp (13,585 students total), Dickinson Academy accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Dickinson Academy lists that Black students make up the majority at 58%; the rest is composed of 25% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 6% White. The wider county runs roughly 13% Black, putting the school's mix noticeably more Black than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 8.6:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 15.5:1 average. Roughly 75% of students at Dickinson Academy qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is noticeably above St. Joseph County's rate of about 46%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Dickinson Academy falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 22.2%; this one comes in at 6.3%, -15.9 points off the demographic line.

Around the school, the surrounding county (St. Joseph County) logs that median household income runs about $66,868, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. Across St. Joseph County's 73 public schools (combined enrollment of about 35,614 students), Dickinson Academy is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Coquillard Elementary School, around 0.3 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Dickinson Academy. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Dickinson Academy ranks 4th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 28.1%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Dickinson Academy has contracted 52%, going from 650 students in 2018 to 309 in 2025. Over the same period, the Black share ticked up from 40% to 58%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 16.3:1 in 2018 to 8.6:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Dickinson Academy typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.