The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in Social studies. The lowest is 11% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Career Academy Middle School
Career Academy Middle School operates as a single-school district in St. Joseph County, serving grades six through eight. The school enrolls a student body that is roughly split between white students and Black students, with smaller shares of students who are Hispanic or identify with two or more races. The district’s name initially suggests a broader grade span, but the actual enrollment, which is concentrated in grades six through eight, shows that the school functions as a middle school. The free-or-reduced-price lunch rate and special education and English learner counts were not available in the data; a parent may want to check with the school directly for those figures.
State testing results on the ILEARN assessment show proficiency rates that fall below the midpoint among St. Joseph County’s districts overall. In English language arts, roughly a quarter of students met the state’s proficiency standard. In math, about one in nine students scored at the proficient level. Science proficiency was in a similar range. The proficiency data only covers grades three through eight, which is the tested grade band for the ILEARN, so these results reflect the school’s seventh- and eighth-grade students as well as any tested cohort. The chronic absenteeism rate places the school in the bottom quartile when compared to other districts in the county, meaning a substantial share of students are missing enough school days to be considered chronically absent. This is a soft spot a family may want to explore further with the school.
Per-pupil current spending sits in the upper range relative to other St. Joseph County districts, which indicates the school invests more per student than most of its neighbors. No graduation rate is available because the school does not serve high school grades, so that metric is not applicable. The school’s governance type—whether it is a charter, magnet, or traditional public school—was not specified in the data. The data also did not include any information on program offerings, course access, or staffing ratios. The district brief turned up no publicly reported changes or strategic priorities from recent years, so there is nothing to summarize on that front.
The school’s academic pathway is one where a parent will likely want to investigate the supports available for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks in reading and math, given the lower proficiency rates. The peer environment is diverse by race and ethnicity, though no data was provided on the share of students who are economically disadvantaged or receive special education services. The community and economic context for the school’s location was not available, so readers have no housing-market or town-level information to draw on. The chronic absenteeism figure is a meaningful signal that a parent should ask about attendance policies and what the school does to address truancy or barriers to consistent attendance. Overall, Career Academy Middle School is a middle-grade district whose performance data points to challenges in academic achievement and attendance, with higher-than-average per-pupil spending that may or may not be directed at those areas. A parent would do well to visit the school, ask about intervention programs, and understand the school environment before deciding whether it fits their child.
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