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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Jonas E Salk Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
565
Elementary
DISTRICT 425 · STATE 436
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MERRILLVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORP·NCES 180969001585
Jonas E Salk Elementary School
3001 W 77th Ave, Merrillville, IN 46410 · (219) 650-5304 · Lake County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL565 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 54% of Indiana public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats 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
13.1:1
43 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.2:1 · STATE 15.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
52%
296 students
DISTRICT 54% · STATE 50%
Community
5
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 88 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 103 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 107 | 19% |
| Grade 3 | 129 | 23% |
| Grade 4 | 138 | 24% |
This year's kindergarten class (88) is 36% smaller than its 4th grade class (138).
Student demographics
60%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 52% · 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
Jonas E Salk Elementary School→Merrillville Intermediate School→Pierce Middle School→Merrillville High School
Based on grade levels within Merrillville Community School Corp. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ILEARN 2024-25 . % At or Above ProficiencyEnglish Language Arts
42.3%
IN avg 39.2%
Math
46.8%
IN avg 41.1%
What this means: On the ILEARN, Indiana's statewide test, about 42 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 47 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
42.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.5%
based on IN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 38% typical for Indiana schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Indiana's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Jonas E Salk Elementary School
Jonas E Salk Elementary School's state test result (42.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jonas E Salk Elementary School this school | 565 | 52.4% | 42.8% |
| Eagle Creek Elementary School Indianapolis | 533 | 51.2% | 32.9% |
| Guion Creek Elementary School Indianapolis | 550 | 51.5% | 30.8% |
| Central Elementary School Indianapolis | 634 | 53.6% | 20.2% |
| Spring Mill Elementary School Indianapolis | 529 | 57.5% | 32.0% |
| Greenbriar Elementary School Indianapolis | 509 | 54.6% | 28.2% |
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 Jonas E Salk Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Indiana | In Lake County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 42.8% | #462 of 983 | #27 of 61 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 46.8% | #479 of 986 | #28 of 61 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 42.3% | #391 of 986 | #24 of 61 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 565 | #235 of 1,079 | #19 of 70 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.1:1 | #167 of 991 | #6 of 69 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.9% | #282 of 996 | #27 of 69 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 52.4% | #539 of 1,058 | #37 of 70 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.2% | #326 of 597 | #22 of 39 |
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
565
+12 (+2%) vs 2020
+12% since 1990-91, when it was 503
Student : Teacher
13.1:1
was 15.8:1
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 | 565 | 43.2 | 13.1:1 | 52% (296) |
| 2023-24 | 593 | 38.5 | 15.4:1 | 60% (353) |
| 2022-23 | 587 | 36.8 | 15.9:1 | 64% (378) |
| 2020-21 | 553 | 35 | 15.8:1 | 65% (358) |
| 2017-18 | 636 | 38.2 | 16.6:1 | 66% (419) |
| 2015-16 | 681 | 37 | 18.4:1 | 63% (427) |
| 2010-11 | 634 | 29 | 21.9:1 | 60% (379) |
| 2000-01 | 464 | 25 | 18.6:1 | 21% (96) |
| 1990-91 | 503 | 25 | 20.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Jonas E Salk Elementary School.
About Jonas E Salk Elementary School
At 3001 W 77th Ave in Merrillville, Indiana, Jonas E Salk Elementary School operates as a mid-sized elementary school. Total enrollment is 565 students, and the grades served are pre-K through 4. That is 30% above the average of about 436 students for elementary schools in Indiana.
Jonas E Salk Elementary School reports to Merrillville Community School Corp, which has 8 schools and 5,904 students.
More than half of enrollment at Jonas E Salk Elementary School is Black: 58%. The remaining shares are 23% Hispanic, 12% White, and 6% multiracial. Lake County as a whole is about 23% Black, so the school's share is higher. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 60%.
Staffing at Jonas E Salk Elementary School comes to 43.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 13.1:1. Elementary schools in Indiana have an average ratio of 15.5:1. On the income side, 52% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Among Indiana public elementary schools, Jonas E Salk Elementary School outscored 54%, which works out to a B- on the allk12 Grade.
Schools in Indiana with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 38.5%. Jonas E Salk Elementary School scores 42.8%.
Lake County is the school's county. There, median household income comes to about $71,493, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 26%, and about 11% of people live in poverty. Lake County's 121 public schools enroll about 74,661 students and include Jonas E Salk Elementary School.
Homer Iddings Elementary School, about 1.5 miles away, is the closest public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. On state test proficiency, Jonas E Salk Elementary School ranks 1st in a group of 7 nearby schools.
The school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more, according to its NCES locale (Suburb: Large).
In 2020-21, Jonas E Salk Elementary School enrolled 553; in 2024-25, 565. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (13.1:1) than in 2020-21 (15.8:1).
Parents, students, and staff can share information on special education services, counseling, and support programs here. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Lake County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
500,379
Census ACS
Median income
$71,493
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
26%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
121
74,661 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Merrillville Community School Corp
- Merrillville High SchoolHigh · 2,115 students
- Pierce Middle SchoolMiddle · 878 students
- Merrillville Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 788 students
- Homer Iddings Elementary SchoolElementary · 535 students
- Henry P Fieler Elementary SchoolElementary · 466 students
- Edgar L Miller Elementary SchoolElementary · 330 students
Other schools in Merrillville
- Merrillville High SchoolHigh · 2,115 students
- Pierce Middle SchoolMiddle · 878 students
- Merrillville Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 788 students
- Homer Iddings Elementary SchoolElementary · 535 students
- Henry P Fieler Elementary SchoolElementary · 466 students
- Edgar L Miller Elementary SchoolElementary · 330 students
Other Jonas E Salk Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Jonas E Salk Elementary. Jonas E Salk Elementary School is the largest of the 2.
- Jonas E Salk Elementary SchoolBolingbrook, IL · 391 students
Nearby schools
- Homer Iddings Elementary School1.5 mi · 535
- Pierce Middle School2.2 mi · 878
- Edgar L Miller Elementary School2.3 mi · 330
- Merrillville Intermediate School2.4 mi · 788
- Merrillville High School2.5 mi · 2,115
- Henry P Fieler Elementary School2.5 mi · 466
Frequently asked questions
About Jonas E Salk Elementary SchoolHow large is Jonas E Salk Elementary School?
Jonas E Salk Elementary School enrolls approximately 565 students in grades PK-04.
Is Jonas E Salk Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Jonas E Salk Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-04.
How many teachers does Jonas E Salk Elementary School have?
Jonas E Salk Elementary School employs 43 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.1:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Jonas E Salk Elementary School?
At Jonas E Salk Elementary School, the student body is approximately 12% White, 23% Hispanic, 58% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Jonas E Salk Elementary School in?
Jonas E Salk Elementary School is part of Merrillville Community School Corp.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.