The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Francisco Elementary School
Francisco Elementary School, a regular public school that served grades kindergarten through six, is now permanently closed. It was part of the East Gibson School Corporation and sat on State Highway 64 in the center of Francisco, a very small, rural residential town in Gibson County. The town itself has a volunteer fire department, a town hall, and little commercial activity. Residents commute to nearby communities like Princeton or Oakland City for work, and the town has experienced a slight population decline in recent years. The school closed at the end of May 2023, a decision voted on by the district as part of a broader restructuring of its buildings.
For its final academic year, 2022-23, state testing results from Indiana's ILEARN assessments provide a snapshot of what the school looked like. In math, a solid majority of students met or exceeded the state proficiency standard. In English language arts, just under half did. Science results were lower, with about one-third proficient. Social studies results for fifth graders were suppressed because the number of test takers was too small to report publicly, and the same small testing cohort means individual subject results should be read as rough indicators rather than precise measures of the full student body. The school did not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate, and no enrollment, demographic, or economic need data were available in the record.
No information about course offerings, special programs, or staffing patterns was provided, and the school's status as closed means no current data on those fronts exists. The district brief notes that East Gibson School Corporation has expanded career and technical pathways for high school students through a partnership, but that program operates at the secondary level and was not part of this elementary school's offerings.
For families, the central fact is that Francisco Elementary is no longer accepting students. Children who live in the Francisco area now attend other East Gibson schools, with elementary grades reconfigured across the district and sixth grade moved to the middle school. The town's elementary-age students travel to a different campus, and the closure represents a shift in daily commuting patterns and community identity. A parent considering the area should confirm current attendance zones directly with the district, as the school that once served this small rural community is part of its history, not its present.
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