The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in Science. The lowest is 40% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Fremont Middle School
Fremont Middle School serves grades five through eight in Fremont, a small town in Steuben County with a manufacturing base and a downtown that received a state-funded revitalization in recent years. The school is part of Fremont Community Schools, a three-building district that also operates an elementary and a high school. The middle school enrollment is moderate for a grades 5-8 configuration, and it draws from the town and surrounding area. The student body is overwhelmingly white, and about half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need that is in line with many rural Indiana districts.
On the 2024-25 Indiana ILEARN assessments, the school’s proficiency rates across tested subjects fell below half. In math, just over two-fifths of students reached the proficient or above level. In English language arts, the rate was similar, also under half. Science, tested among a subset of students, showed a slightly higher share proficient, though still below half. Social studies, assessed only in grade five, produced a rate in the same range. When compared with other districts in Steuben County, Fremont Middle School’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint. The county contains only two districts, so the comparison is narrow, but within that set the school is the middle performer, not the top or the bottom.
The data do not include figures on chronic absenteeism or discipline, and no information on special education or English learner populations was reported. A parent who wants to understand how the school supports students with disabilities or language needs may need to reach out to the school directly for that context; the available data simply do not address it. Because the school serves only middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and course access and staffing metrics were also absent from the data provided.
The school’s district has made several recent moves that affect the educational environment. In late 2024, voters approved an operating referendum that raises property taxes to maintain staffing, curriculum, technology, and extracurricular programs. The district also added FFA (Future Farmers of America) and FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) programs, though it is not specified whether these are offered at the middle school level or only at the high school. The high school does offer extensive dual credit partnerships with Trine University, but that is not directly relevant for a middle school student. The district as a whole has been designated a performance-qualified district, which gives it flexibility in how it delivers instruction.
Housing values in the Fremont area are close to the national median, and the town itself is compact, with a downtown core, a public library, several parks, and a summer farmers’ market. Major employers are manufacturing facilities, and the town has seen population fluctuation over the past two decades, with a slight decline in the most recent census and a small uptick in estimates since then. The proximity to the I-69 and Indiana Toll Road interchange makes it accessible for commuting, but daily life remains car-dependent.
For a family considering this school, the picture is of a small-town middle school with academic results that are in the middle range for the county but below statewide benchmarks in most subjects. The student body is not economically diverse, but about half of families are in the income range that qualifies for meal assistance. The district has acted to protect programming through a recent tax referendum, and it has introduced agricultural and life-skills courses. A parent may want to investigate how those new programs are integrated at the middle school level, and to look into the school’s student support structures, especially around special education, since those details were not part of the available data.
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