The top reported proficiency rate is 9% in Math. The lowest is 3% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Glen Park Acad for Excel in Lrn
Glen Park Academy for Excellence in Learning serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade in Gary, Indiana, as part of the Gary Community School Corporation. The school is a regular public elementary school, not a charter or magnet institution. The student body is predominantly Black, with a much smaller number of Hispanic students and a very small number of white students and students of two or more races represented. Over half of the students at the school qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of household economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners at the school was not available in the records reviewed.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results place the school’s performance in a very challenging position. On the ILEARN tests, the proficiency rates for all students were low in every subject tested. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above was in the single digits, and in English language arts it was similarly low. Science results, based on a smaller group of test-takers, followed the same pattern. In social studies, assessed only at grade five, the proficiency rate was even lower. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages the results across all tested subjects and grades, puts it in the bottom quartile among the districts in Lake County. A parent should understand that these scores indicate the school is serving a population facing significant academic challenges, and they would want to talk directly with the school about the strategies in place to support student learning.
As an elementary school, Glen Park Academy does not have a graduation rate or high school pathway data. State testing data covers the relevant grade band, so there is no gap explained by untested grades. The core picture is of a school where the vast majority of students are not meeting state benchmarks, and where the depth of that challenge is clearly reflected in the numbers.
The school is located in Gary, a city that has experienced profound population loss and economic restructuring since the decline of its historic industrial base. The city is still home to the massive U.S. Steel Gary Works, though its workforce is a fraction of what it once was. Gary has a traditional downtown, lakefront parks, and rail connections to Chicago, but it also faces high vacancy rates, decaying infrastructure, and high unemployment. Housing values in the area are well below the state and national benchmarks, and they have been declining over the past year. Rents, based on available data, are also relatively low. A typical mortgage payment on a home in the area would be less than the typical rent, a mismatch that reflects the weak housing market.
The Gary Community School Corporation itself operates under ongoing state oversight, having been taken over by the Distressed Unit Appeals Board several years ago. The school board is appointed rather than elected, so parents in the district do not have direct electoral control over school board members. District enrollment has been declining sharply over the past few years, a trend that can affect school funding, staffing levels, and the overall stability of programs across the district.
For a family considering Glen Park Academy, the school sits within a district facing long-term structural challenges and a city with a shrinking population and a weak housing market. The academic results are the most difficult part of the picture, with proficiency rates at a level that would give any family reason to ask searching questions about classroom instruction, intervention programs, and how the school works to move students toward grade-level mastery. The school’s size, with a few hundred students across the elementary grades, is typical for a neighborhood elementary school. What stands out is the distance between where students are performing and where the state expects them to be, a gap that will be the central concern for any family weighing this school.
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