The top reported proficiency rate is 59% in Math. The lowest is 44% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Elsie Rogers Elementary School
Elsie Rogers Elementary is a regular public school in Mishawaka, part of the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. It serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school sits within a city that was historically a manufacturing hub and has since shifted toward retail and small industry. Mishawaka is experiencing consistent residential growth and record-level new construction, and it offers an engaging downtown with a riverwalk, parks, and community events. The district itself has no recent, lasting changes of note that surfaced through a search; its offerings appear stable.
This is a mainstream elementary school with a strong academic showing relative to other elementary schools in St. Joseph County. On the state’s ILEARN assessments, which cover the tested grades, Elsie Rogers places in the top quartile among the county’s schools for overall proficiency across subjects. That is a meaningful distinction, meaning the school’s aggregated results sit toward the higher end of the local range.
In plain terms, about six in ten students met math proficiency, roughly half met English language arts proficiency, and about half met social studies proficiency. In science, the percentage of students scoring proficient was lower, at a bit more than four in ten. A parent may want to ask the school how it supports science learning specifically, given that the proficiency rate is notably lower than in other subjects. The school had a high participation rate on the tests, which makes the results reliable.
The enrollment is in the mid-hundreds, a size that allows for grade-level cohorts large enough to organize into classes without becoming impersonal. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller but present mix of Hispanic, Asian, Black, and multiracial students, as well as a tiny share of American Indian or Alaska Native students. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a moderate share and signals a mixed-income community.
Because the school does not serve grades beyond fifth, there is no graduation rate to report, and no chronic absenteeism data was available in the source data. There is also no information on staffing ratios, discipline, or course access in the data provided. The school is not a charter or magnet, and Title I status was not reported.
A quick note on what is not in the data: there are no figures on the share of students with individualized education plans or English learner classifications, so a parent who needs either of those supports should confirm current services directly with the school. Similarly, the list of programs such as art, music, or enrichment was not available, so families have to seek that from the school’s website or by calling.
In the housing context, homes in this area are priced moderately below the state’s typical value, and rents are also somewhat below that same benchmark. The cost-to-income split suggests a family earning the national median household income would spend about a fifth of their pay on rent, which is a manageable figure. Mortgage costs run higher than rents, reflecting the usual trade-off between renting and buying.
Overall, Elsie Rogers presents as a solid neighborhood elementary school within a growing suburb. Its test scores are a clear strength relative to the county, and the school operates within a stable district. The main gaps a parent would want to investigate further are program offerings, special education and English learner services, and the school’s approach to science instruction. The housing market in the area is accessible relative to state norms, and the city itself has active development and a walkable downtown with amenities along the river.
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