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If you could change one rule at Dickinson Fine Arts Academy, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
309
Elementary
DISTRICT 377 · STATE 436
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTH BEND COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORP·NCES 181029001661
Dickinson Academy
4404 Elwood, South Bend, IN 46628 · (574) 393-3900 · St. Joseph County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL309 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 2% of Indiana public elementary schools
- FTest 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
8.6:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.8:1 · STATE 15.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
75%
233 students
DISTRICT 56% · STATE 50%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 | 60 | 19% |
| Grade 6 | 44 | 14% |
| Grade 7 | 107 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 98 | 32% |
Student demographics
59%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 72% · 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
Test scores
ILEARN 2024-25 . % At or Above ProficiencyEnglish Language Arts
10.1%
IN avg 39.2%
Math
5.1%
IN avg 41.1%
What this means: On the ILEARN, Indiana's statewide test, about 10 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 5 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
6.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
22.2%
based on IN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 6% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 22% 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 Dickinson Academy
Dickinson Academy's state test result (6.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dickinson Academy this school | 309 | 75.4% | 6.3% |
| Sankofa School of Success at Arlington Woods School 99 Indianapolis | 361 | 71.2% | 11.4% |
| Robert Lee Frost School 106 - a STEM School Indianapolis | 308 | 69.8% | 3.6% |
| Anna Brochhausen School 88 - a STEM School Indianapolis | 326 | 68.4% | 10.4% |
| James Russell Lowell School 51 - a Montessori School Indianapolis | 363 | 71.3% | 5.0% |
| Washington Irving Neighborhood School 14 Indianapolis | 230 | 77.4% | 9.7% |
Matched among Indiana elementary 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 Dickinson Academy ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Indiana | In St. Joseph County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 6.3% | #976 of 983 | #38 of 40 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 5.1% | #981 of 986 | #38 of 40 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 10.1% | #961 of 986 | #36 of 40 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 309 | #812 of 1,079 | #35 of 42 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 8.6:1 | #1 of 991 | #1 of 39 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.9% | #305 of 996 | #20 of 39 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 75.4% | #81 of 1,058 | #4 of 41 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -52.5% | #9 of 597 | #1 of 26 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
309
-362 (-54%) vs 2020
-54% since 1990-91, when it was 677
Student : Teacher
8.6:1
was 15.3:1
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 | 309 | 35.9 | 8.6:1 | 75% (233) |
| 2023-24 | 519 | 38.8 | 13.4:1 | 76% (393) |
| 2022-23 | 449 | 29.5 | 15.2:1 | 86% (387) |
| 2020-21 | 671 | 44 | 15.3:1 | 81% (546) |
| 2017-18 | 650 | 40 | 16.3:1 | 87% (564) |
| 2015-16 | 618 | 12 | 51.5:1 | 82% (509) |
| 2010-11 | 621 | 45 | 13.8:1 | 75% (467) |
| 2000-01 | 618 | 44 | 14.1:1 | 62% (382) |
| 1990-91 | 677 | 41 | 16.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dickinson Academy.
About Dickinson Academy
Dickinson Academy is a low-enrollment elementary school that serves part of South Bend, Indiana. It had 309 students in 2024-25, spanning kindergarten through 8. By comparison, elementary schools in Indiana enroll about 436 students on average.
South Bend Community School Corp oversees Dickinson Academy and 28 other schools, with 13,585 students in total.
The share of Black students at Dickinson Academy is 58%, a majority. Other students are 25% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, and 6% White. That is higher than the 13% Black share among all St. Joseph County residents. A diversity index of 59% means there is a 59% chance two randomly chosen students at Dickinson Academy are from different groups.
The school lists 35.9 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 8.6:1. Compared with the 15.5:1 average for elementary schools in Indiana, this school's ratio is lower. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 75% of the student body. By comparison, the figure for public schools in St. Joseph County is 46%.
On the allk12 Grade, Dickinson Academy lands at F, ahead of 2% of Indiana public elementary schools.
A school in Indiana with Dickinson Academy's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 22.2%. Dickinson Academy scores 6.3%.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for St. Joseph County show that median household income comes to about $66,868, roughly 34% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. St. Joseph County counts 73 public schools with about 35,614 students.
Dickinson Academy is about 0.3 miles from Coquillard Elementary School, its nearest public school. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Local comparison: Dickinson Academy ranks 4th of 6 nearby schools, at 6.3% versus a 28.1% average.
NCES lists the school's locale as City: Mid-size. That means it sits inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Dickinson Academy enrolled 671 in 2020-21 and 309 in 2024-25. Changes in grade configuration can produce shifts of this size. The student-to-teacher ratio went down from 15.3:1 to 8.6:1.
The discussion board for Dickinson Academy is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
St. Joseph County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
273,040
Census ACS
Median income
$66,868
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
73
35,614 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in South Bend Community School Corp
- Adams High SchoolHigh · 1,966 students
- Riley High SchoolHigh · 1,238 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 795 students
- Jefferson Traditional SchoolMiddle · 591 students
- Harrison Elementary SchoolElementary · 555 students
- Edison Middle SchoolElementary · 551 students
Other schools in South Bend
- Adams High SchoolHigh · 1,966 students
- Riley High SchoolHigh · 1,238 students
- Washington High SchoolHigh · 795 students
- Success Academy Primary SchoolElementary · 610 students
- Jefferson Traditional SchoolMiddle · 591 students
- Harrison Elementary SchoolElementary · 555 students
Other Dickinson Academy schools
One other US public school is named Dickinson Academy. Dickinson Academy is the largest of the 2.
- Dickinson AcademyGRAND RAPIDS, MI · 224 students
Nearby schools
- Coquillard Elementary School0.3 mi · 305
- Success Academy Primary School0.8 mi · 610
- Lafayette Early Childhood Center1.0 mi · 6
- LaSalle Academy1.1 mi · 461
- Washington High School1.2 mi · 795
- Excel Center - South Bend1.4 mi · 296
Frequently asked questions
About Dickinson AcademyHow large is Dickinson Academy?
Dickinson Academy enrolls approximately 309 students in grades KG-08.
Is Dickinson Academy an elementary, middle, or high school?
Dickinson Academy is an elementary school covering grades KG-08.
How many students per teacher at Dickinson Academy?
Approximately 8.6:1 students per teacher at Dickinson Academy.
What is the student diversity at Dickinson Academy?
Student demographics at Dickinson Academy are roughly 6% White, 25% Hispanic, 58% Black, 1% Asian, 10% Two or more.
What district is Dickinson Academy in?
Dickinson Academy is part of South Bend Community School Corp.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.