New Prairie Middle School, New Carlisle IN

Original Research by School Decision on New Prairie Middle School

New Prairie Middle School serves grades six through eight in the New Prairie United School Corporation, a district situated in LaPorte County. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and there is no Title I status reported. The district brief turned up little in the way of recent, parent-relevant changes like curriculum shifts or building referenda, so that area is not described here.

The school’s enrollment is sizeable for a middle school, with a student body that is heavily white, with a noticeable Hispanic population making up about a tenth of the students, and the remainder coming from small numbers of Black, multiracial, and Native American students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, above four in ten. Counts for students with IEPs and English learners were not reported, so a parent should ask the school about how those populations are served.

Academically, the school performs solidly. On the state assessments, just over half of students scored proficient or above in English language arts and in science, and just under half did so in math. The state does not publish a single composite rating; looking across these three tested subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile among districts in LaPorte County, outperforming the county’s median. This is a meaningful positioning: the school is hitting above average within its county context. There was social studies data from an older test year that is not current enough to rely on. The school administration can likely explain what social studies assessment, if any, currently applies to middle grades.

The town of New Carlisle itself is a small community with a compact historic downtown along Lincoln Highway. The school’s campus, like the other district schools, sits outside the walkable downtown core. The town has seen major recent industrial and commercial growth, including a large Amazon data center and a solar generating station, and its effective service area extends well beyond the resident population. Housing in the zip code that covers the school is modestly priced relative to national levels, and the local market has appreciated in recent years. The town lacks public transit, and the closest commuter rail station is in a neighboring community.

For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a solidly performing middle school in a growing small town. The academic results are respectable, particularly within the county, and the student body is relatively homogeneous racially and economically. The school does not report key civil rights or discipline data, nor chronic absenteeism rates, so a parent looking closely at school climate or support for students with disabilities will need to inquire with the school directly. The district appears stable, with no major recent upheavals or bond debates flagged in public sources. New Prairie Middle School fits a family that values above-average outcomes within a mid-sized, predominantly white, lower-poverty middle school setting in a town that is seeing economic expansion but remains a quiet, car-dependent community.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grades 3-849%

School 49% · District 58% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

English language arts

Grades 3-850%

School 50% · District 53% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Science

Grades 3-851%

School 51% · District 54% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Social studies

Grades 3-868%

School 68% · district not reported

▲ 7 pts above state median

This schoolNew Prairie United School Corp, 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-income35%Higher-income58%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income32%Higher-income57%25 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income59%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income69%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income34%Higher-income61%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income26%Higher-income50%25 pp gap