The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in Science. The lowest is 4% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Options Westfield
Options Westfield, a charter school serving grades six through twelve in the Options Charter Schools district, is located in Carmel, an affluent suburban city north of Indianapolis. The school opened its current campus in 2021, adding a brick-and-mortar option to the district’s network and offering a small learning environment with a student-to-teacher ratio that publicly reported materials describe as 15 to one. Its enrollment is modest overall, with a grade span that starts in middle school and continues through high school. Most students are white, with smaller shares who are Hispanic, identify as two or more races, or are Black. Fewer than one in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is low on its own and especially so relative to the countywide school districts.
Academic performance on Indiana’s ILEARN assessments falls in a range that places the school in the bottom quartile among Hamilton County districts. In math, about one in twenty students scored at a proficient level or above. In English language arts, roughly one in five students met that bar, and in science, about one in four did. These results represent a single year of testing and are markedly lower than the county medians across tested subjects. The school’s participation rates were reported as full, so the scores reflect nearly all enrolled students. Because these are the most recent state results available, they give a clear picture of where the school stands relative to its county neighbors.
Several academic and operational indicators that are commonly available for schools are missing here. The dataset does not include a four-year graduation rate, a chronic absenteeism rate, or counts of students with disabilities and English learners. It is possible that the school’s charter status or its student population profile accounts for some of these gaps, but the data does not specify the reason. A parent considering Options Westfield may want to ask the school directly for its graduation rate, postsecondary outcomes, and how it supports students who may need additional academic or behavioral interventions.
The community context for the school is unusual. Despite its name, Options Westfield is physically located in Carmel, not in the neighboring town of Westfield. Carmel is a high-wealth community characterized by corporate headquarters, an extensive roundabout system, trail networks, and a downtown cultural district. Housing values and rents are substantially above both national and state averages. The school itself, however, draws from a different demographic profile than the typical Carmel Clay Schools attendee: its share of students from low-income households is much smaller than many public schools, but its test results are far lower than what one would expect in a district that has been nationally recognized for academic achievement. That contrast suggests the charter school may serve a specific set of families who are seeking an alternative to the district’s larger comprehensive schools, possibly for reasons related to academic fit or environment.
No information about Advanced Placement, dual-credit programs, career pathways, or extracurricular offerings is available in the data provided. The district brief notes that Options Westfield operates a traditional school day schedule and that the campus opened in 2021 as an expansion. Beyond that, the school’s programmatic depth is not documented in this profile. A family wanting to understand whether the school offers college preparatory courses, electives, or special education services would need to contact the school directly.
In sum, Options Westfield is a small charter school in a high-income suburb, serving a racially diverse but not economically diverse student body, with academic outcomes that are significantly below the county average. It is a deliberately different path from the large, high-performing district schools in Hamilton County, and a parent should be prepared to investigate what the school offers and what its graduate outcomes look like before making a decision.
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