The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 60% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on South Elementary School
South Elementary School serves third and fourth graders in Danville, Indiana, as part of the Danville Community School Corporation. It is a regular public school, and its enrollment is large for a school serving only two grade levels. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that gives a sense of the economic diversity in the building.
Academically, South Elementary posts results that place it above the midpoint among districts in Hendricks County on an overall proficiency index. On the state’s ILEARN assessments, a majority of students scored at the proficient level or above in math, English language arts, and science. The strongest showing was in math, where roughly two-thirds of students met the bar. In English language arts, about three-fifths were proficient, and in science, about two-thirds of the tested students reached that level. These are solid numbers for a school serving only third and fourth graders, and they suggest that most students are building a foundation of grade-level skills before they move on to the upper elementary and middle school grades. Participation rates on the tests were very high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire student body.
The school is part of the Danville Community School Corporation, a district that is under some strain. The district has been growing, and the building that houses grades seven through twelve is feeling the pressure. Voters turned down a construction referendum a few years ago that would have addressed the capacity issue, and no new referendum has been put forward since. That means the crowding at the upper grades remains an unresolved concern for families with children moving through the system. Additionally, the district’s superintendent resigned at the end of 2024 to take a job in Ohio, so the district is in the middle of a leadership transition. A new superintendent will be in place for the coming years, and that person will shape the district’s direction.
Danville itself is the county seat of Hendricks County, a town with a historic courthouse square and a described small-town character. It sits about twenty miles west of downtown Indianapolis along U.S. Route 36, which functions as the town’s Main Street. The town has a family-oriented residential base, with a parks system that includes over twenty miles of trails, a community center, and an outdoor aquatic center. The town has been growing, and the school district has felt that growth in the form of crowding at the building that serves seventh through twelfth graders. The failed referendum means that capacity issue has not been resolved through new construction, and families should be aware that the upper-grade building is under pressure.
South Elementary itself is a straightforward proposition. It is a two-grade school with solid academic results on state tests, a large enrollment for its narrow grade band, and a student body that is economically mixed. The district context matters here: the school feeds into a system that is growing, has a capacity problem at the upper levels, and is searching for a new superintendent. For a family with a third or fourth grader, the day-to-day experience at South Elementary appears to be one of strong test participation and above-average proficiency relative to other schools in the county. The question for families looking further ahead is how the district resolves its middle and high school crowding and who will be leading the district when their child reaches those grades.
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