The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in Math. The lowest is 19% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Columbia Elementary School
Columbia Elementary is one of the elementary schools serving Logansport, a small industrial city situated at the confluence of the Wabash and Eel Rivers, home to a significant Tyson Foods pork processing plant and a historic downtown anchored by the Little Turtle Waterway public space. The school is a regular public school within the Logansport Community School Corporation, serving kindergarten through fifth grade.
The student body reflects the broader community. The school is majority Hispanic, with a substantial white population and smaller shares of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A large majority of students come from households with low enough incomes that they qualify for free or reduced-price meals. This is a high-poverty setting, and a parent should understand that the school is working with a student population that faces economic challenges connected to a region where the local population has been gradually declining and where some city resources have been publicly described as strained.
On state assessments, Columbia Elementary’s proficiency rates are lower than the statewide average. In math, about a quarter of students scored at or above the proficient level. In English language arts, roughly one in five students did. In science, about a quarter of students met the proficient bar. Social studies data from a prior year shows a similar pattern. On the state’s ILEARN exams, these results place the school below the midpoint among districts in Cass County on an overall proficiency index. There is no multi-year trend data available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent an improvement, a decline, or a pattern that is holding steady. A parent considering this school may want to ask building leadership directly what strategies are in place to lift academic performance, particularly in literacy and math.
The school’s size is moderate for an elementary, with enough enrollment to provide a full grade-level peer group in each grade from kindergarten through fourth, though the fifth-grade enrollment is listed as zero, a data quirk that should be clarified with the district. Columbia does not serve middle or high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Special education and English learner enrollment data was not available, which is a gap a parent may want to fill by contacting the school.
The building is located on Columbia Street, and the surrounding neighborhood is part of Logansport’s residential fabric. The city itself has a walkable downtown grid with historic districts and the Eel River’s Riverside Park, home to a historic carousel. The Logansport district operates separate elementary buildings, plus an intermediate school, a junior high, the high school, and a career center. Housing in the Logansport area is relatively affordable compared to the state and national benchmarks.
The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as a referendum, a curriculum overhaul, or a boundary shift. Whether this is because there were none, or because they were not reported in a form that surfaced in the search, is unclear. A parent moving to the area should verify the current school boundary for their address, as the district runs multiple elementary schools.
Columbia Elementary serves a high-need community with results that lag behind much of the state. For a family, the central question is whether the school’s supports and classroom environment are the right fit for their child in light of that reality. The data does not speak to quality of teaching, school culture, or extracurricular options for this grade band, and a visit is the natural next step.
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