The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in Math. The lowest is 34% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on William W Borden Elementary School
William W Borden Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school within the Borden-Henryville School Corporation, a district created in 2020 after voters in Borden and Henryville approved splitting from West Clark Community Schools. The school is located in the small, predominantly rural town of Borden in Clark County, where the character is agricultural and the built environment is oriented around local roads and Highway 60 with minimal walkable commercial district. The town has a population that has been relatively stable with a slight decline over the past two decades, and its median home values have risen notably in that same period.
On state assessments, Borden Elementary’s students performed at a level that places the school in the top quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades relative to districts in Clark County. In mathematics, roughly six in ten students scored proficient or above, and in English language arts, about half did the same. Science results, which come from a single tested grade, also showed about half of students reaching proficiency. Social studies, tested only in fifth grade, was a softer area, with just over a third of students scoring proficient. A parent may want to discuss this subject’s results with the school, as the cohort was small. Participation rates for state testing were high in math and ELA, indicating the results reflect nearly the entire student body.
The school enrolls a predominantly white student body, with small shares of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic mix of the community. The town’s major employers include a custom woodworking company, a business park, and several local service firms, while the small town government itself employs a handful of full- and part-time staff. There is no public transit in Borden, and the town’s civic life centers on the community park, which hosts an annual festival, and a museum housed in the former library.
The district context shapes what families can expect. The Borden-Henryville School Corporation is a new, independent district with its own governance and tax structure, formed after a failed property tax referendum in the previous larger district. The new district adopted new English language arts curriculum materials for elementary grades and expanded Project Lead The Way programs at both the Borden and Henryville campuses, as discussed in board meetings in the years following the split. These choices signal an intentional shift in programming, though the school’s own course access data was not available for this account.
For families considering Borden Elementary, the school offers a small-town setting with academic results that are strong relative to other schools in the county. The peer environment is largely homogeneous in racial composition and includes a notable share of households qualifying for economic assistance. Housing in the area has become more expensive in recent years, though a comparison with national benchmarks was not part of this analysis. The school’s performance in social studies and the absence of reported data on discipline, special education identification, or English learner populations are gaps a family may want to investigate directly with the school or district. The academic core in math and reading stands out as a clear strength, and the new district’s early curriculum decisions suggest an active approach to shaping instruction.
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