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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Southwestern Middle School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
491
Middle
DISTRICT 532 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TIPPECANOE SCHOOL CORP·NCES 181134001832
Southwestern Middle School
2100 W 800 S, Lafayette, IN 47905 · (765) 538-3025 · Tippecanoe County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL491 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 12% of Indiana public middle schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
29 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.6:1 · STATE 15.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
38%
186 students
DISTRICT 37% · STATE 50%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 134 | 27% |
| Grade 7 | 190 | 39% |
| Grade 8 | 167 | 34% |
Student demographics
42%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 50% · 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
26.9%
IN avg 39.2%
Math
22.1%
IN avg 41.1%
What this means: On the ILEARN, Indiana's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 22 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
27.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.7%
based on IN schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-21.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 27% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 49% 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 Southwestern Middle School
Southwestern Middle School's state test result (27.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwestern Middle School this school | 491 | 37.9% | 27.3% |
| Westchester Middle School Chesterton | 448 | 33.5% | N/A |
| Thomas Jefferson Middle School Valparaiso | 632 | 39.7% | 53.1% |
| Maxwell Intermediate School Maxwell | 454 | 41.4% | 51.1% |
| North Wood Middle School Wakarusa | 653 | 37.2% | 62.3% |
| Castle South Middle School Newburgh | 641 | 39.0% | 57.5% |
Matched among Indiana middle 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 Southwestern Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Indiana | In Tippecanoe County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.3% | #248 of 324 | #8 of 9 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 22.1% | #255 of 325 | #9 of 9 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 26.9% | #255 of 325 | #9 of 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 491 | #184 of 334 | #7 of 9 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #245 of 314 | #7 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 41.9% | #159 of 315 | #7 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.9% | #249 of 330 | #5 of 9 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +8.6% | #61 of 110 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle 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
491
-2 (0%) vs 2020
+40% since 1990-91, when it was 350
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 17.0:1
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 | 491 | 29.2 | 16.8:1 | 38% (186) |
| 2023-24 | 518 | 30.7 | 16.9:1 | 39% (201) |
| 2022-23 | 496 | 28.7 | 17.3:1 | 41% (201) |
| 2020-21 | 493 | 29 | 17.0:1 | 37% (180) |
| 2017-18 | 452 | 26 | 17.4:1 | 41% (186) |
| 2015-16 | 453 | 22 | 20.6:1 | 36% (161) |
| 2010-11 | 424 | 20 | 21.2:1 | 36% (152) |
| 2000-01 | 480 | 24 | 20.0:1 | 15% (73) |
| 1990-91 | 350 | 20 | 17.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Southwestern Middle School.
About Southwestern Middle School
Southwestern Middle School is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as a middle-grades school in Lafayette, Indiana. The school serves 491 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25.
Tippecanoe School Corp has 13,663 students spread across 20 schools.
A majority of students at Southwestern Middle School, 75%, are White. Other reported shares: 12% Hispanic, 8% Black, and 4% multiracial. That is close to the 74% White share among all Tippecanoe County residents. Southwestern Middle School has a diversity index of 42%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Teachers at the school number 29.2 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 16.8:1. Among middle schools in Indiana, the typical ratio is 15.6:1. The school's lunch program data list 38% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Southwestern Middle School is graded D by allk12, scoring above 12% of Indiana public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. Southwestern Middle School posts 27.3% against a 48.7% prediction, a bottom-10% result in Indiana.
In the county around the school, Tippecanoe County, median household income is about $60,636, about 41% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 10%. A total of 38 public schools operate in Tippecanoe County, serving about 23,655 students.
The school nearest to Southwestern Middle School is Mintonye Elementary School, at a distance of about 0.2 miles. Counting only straight-line distance, 3 other public schools are within five miles. Southwestern Middle School places 7th of 7 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
Locale data from NCES put Southwestern Middle School in rural territory close to an urban area (Rural: Fringe).
Enrollment has been fairly stable: 493 in 2020-21 and 491 in 2024-25.
Posts about school safety, transportation, and start times are welcome on this page. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Tippecanoe County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
189,071
Census ACS
Median income
$60,636
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
38
23,655 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Tippecanoe School Corp
- William Henry Harrison High SchoolHigh · 2,194 students
- McCutcheon High SchoolHigh · 1,835 students
- Klondike Elementary SchoolElementary · 905 students
- Burnett Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 778 students
- Battle Ground Middle SchoolMiddle · 712 students
- Wea Ridge Middle SchoolMiddle · 675 students
Other schools in Lafayette
- Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 2,042 students
- McCutcheon High SchoolHigh · 1,835 students
- Lafayette Sunnyside IntermediateMiddle · 1,031 students
- Lafayette Tecumseh Jr High SchoolMiddle · 999 students
- Wea Ridge Middle SchoolMiddle · 675 students
- Wea Ridge Elementary SchoolElementary · 609 students
Other Southwestern Middle schools
4 other US public schools in 4 states are named Southwestern Middle. Southwestern Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 5.
- Southwestern Middle SchoolHanover, IN · 280 students
- SOUTHWESTERN MIDDLE SCHOOLDELAND, FL · 664 students
- SOUTHWESTERN MIDDLE SCHOOLJAMESTOWN, NY · 266 students
- Southwestern Middle SchoolPiasa, IL · 171 students
Nearby schools
- Mintonye Elementary School0.2 mi · 452
- Mayflower Mill Elementary School3.9 mi · 585
- McCutcheon High School4.1 mi · 1,835
- Wea Ridge Middle School5.0 mi · 675
- Wea Ridge Elementary School5.1 mi · 609
- Amelia Earhart Elementary School6.1 mi · 455
Frequently asked questions
About Southwestern Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Southwestern Middle School?
Southwestern Middle School enrolls approximately 491 students in grades 06-08.
Is Southwestern Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Southwestern Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Southwestern Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Southwestern Middle School is approximately 16.8:1 (29 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Southwestern Middle School?
Southwestern Middle School reports a student body of 75% White, 12% Hispanic, 8% Black, 0% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Southwestern Middle School in?
Southwestern Middle School is part of Tippecanoe School Corp.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.