Joseph Hess Elementary School

Joseph Hess Elementary School is one of the medium-sized primary schools in Hammond, Indiana, run under School City of Hammond, with 611 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 6. Enrollment runs roughly 40% bigger than the state mean of about 436.

School City of Hammond comprises 15 schools with combined enrollment of 10,997 students; Joseph Hess Elementary School is among them.

Looking at the student body, Joseph Hess Elementary School lists that the most-represented group is Hispanic (43%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder breaks down as 41% Black, 11% White, 5% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 21% Hispanic, putting the school's mix visibly more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the resource side, On paper, Joseph Hess Elementary School has 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 16.8:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 15.5:1 average. An estimated 50% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Joseph Hess Elementary School sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 40.0%; actual is 14.5%, a gap of -25.5 points.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Lake County indicate the typical household earns roughly $71,493 per year, about 26% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Lake County runs 121 public schools (combined enrollment of about 74,661 students), of which Joseph Hess Elementary School is one.

Charles N Scott Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Joseph Hess Elementary School at 4th of 5; the average score across the group is 30.7%.

The campus sits in a bedroom-community setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked down 6%: 647 students in 2018 compared to 611 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 20% to 11% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio narrowed from 20.2:1 in 2018 to 16.8:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.