Thomas a Edison Jr-sr Hs, Lake Station IN

Original Research by School Decision on Thomas a Edison Jr-sr Hs

Thomas A. Edison Junior-Senior High School serves the city of Lake Station, Indiana, as a combined middle and high school for grades six through twelve. It is a regular public school within the Lake Station Community Schools district. The school is housed in the same building that hosts both junior and senior high grades, which shapes the experience of its roughly 600 students as one continuous seven-year pathway through a single campus.

Lake Station itself is a small, historically working-class city with a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial employers such as Sun Engineering and Pro-Chem-Co. The built environment is car-oriented, with major interstate highways nearby and a spread of parks rather than a dense walkable core. Home values in the area are below state and national medians, and the local housing market has seen a modest decline recently. The city has some civic anchors, including Riverview Park and a branch of the Lake County Public Library, but the overall economic context is one of modest household incomes relative to the region.

Inside the school, the student body is economically diverse by income, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. Racially and ethnically, the largest group of students is Hispanic, followed by White and Black students. The school reports no data on English learner or special education enrollment, so a parent seeking those specifics would need to ask directly.

Academically, the picture is mixed with one clear strength and areas that require attention. On the ILEARN state assessments, overall proficiency across tested subjects sits above the midpoint among school districts in Lake County—a solid relative position for this comparison set. However, the absolute proficiency rates are low. In math, about one in twelve students scored proficient or above. In English language arts, roughly one in five did. Science proficiency was slightly stronger, at roughly one in five as well. These are challenging numbers. A parent should discuss with the school how it supports students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks, particularly in math and reading. Social studies data from an older, different assessment (ISTEP from several years ago) is too outdated to rely on.

The school does not have a reported graduation rate in the data available, which is unusual for a school serving twelfth grade. Without that figure, it is not possible to assess how many students finish high school on time. A parent should ask the school directly for its most recent four-year cohort graduation rate. Similarly, chronic absenteeism data was not available, so the overall attendance climate is not clear from this record.

No information was available on programs such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, career and technical education pathways, or extracurricular offerings. Combined schools sometimes offer a consolidated set of opportunities across grades, but nothing specific was found. A parent interested in course breadth should request a full program of studies from the school.

The district brief turned up no recent changes of lasting impact to share, and the school itself appears to be operating as a stable, established institution within a community that has seen modest population growth in recent years.

In sum, Thomas A. Edison Junior-Senior High School offers a single-campus experience from middle school through graduation in a modest industrial suburb. Its relative proficiency standings are above the midpoint among Lake County districts, but the absolute levels of student achievement in core subjects are low enough that a family should investigate the school’s academic support structures and ask specifically about the missing graduation rate and program offerings. It fits a family seeking a neighborhood school where the student can stay in one building for all secondary grades, but it requires follow-up on the data gaps to know the full picture.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-84%Cohort of 97 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

389 schools plotted. 9 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grades 3-89%

School 9% · District 15% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

English language arts

Grades 3-819%

School 19% · District 20% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Science

Grades 3-822%

School 22% · District 27% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Social studies

Grades 3-839%

School 39% · district not reported

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolLake Station Community Schools, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income14%6 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income14%Higher-income27%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income20%Higher-income29%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income12%Higher-income14%1 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income7%Higher-income18%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income4%Higher-income5%1 pp gap