Pierce Middle School

Pierce Middle School, a medium-sized 6-8 campus in Merrillville, Indiana, part of Merrillville Community School Corp, works with 878 students, covering grades 7 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 48% larger than the state mean of about 594.

Within Merrillville Community School Corp, which oversees 8 schools and 5,904 students, Pierce Middle School is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Pierce Middle School lists that the largest single group is Black, at 66% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school logs 21% Hispanic, 7% White, 6% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 23% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Pierce Middle School has 69 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.8:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 15.6:1, putting Pierce Middle School tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 53% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

With demographic context factored in, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Pierce Middle School sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 37.9%; actual is 20.5%, a gap of -17.4 points.

In the broader community, community-level numbers for Lake County indicate median household income runs about $71,493, roughly 26% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Pierce Middle School is one of 121 public schools in Lake County (combined enrollment of about 74,661 students).

The closest other public school is Merrillville High School, roughly 0.4 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Pierce Middle School comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 26.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a residential area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 14%: 1,024 students in 2018 compared to 878 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 11% to 7% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 17.0:1 in 2018 to 12.8:1 in 2025.

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