The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Science. The lowest is 18% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Paul Saylor Elementary School
Paul Saylor Elementary School is a regular public school in Valparaiso, Indiana, serving kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of Portage Township Schools. The school draws its students from a city that functions as the county seat of Porter County and as a regional hub, with a mix of residential neighborhoods, commercial corridors, and the institutional presence of Valparaiso University near downtown. The city is situated at the junction of several major highways and is a short distance from the Indiana Dunes National Park. The housing market in the area carries a value that is above the national median home price, and rents have been increasing at a pace that outpaces the national trend, which may be a factor for families considering a move into the district.
The student body at Paul Saylor is diverse. White students make up the largest share of enrollment, followed by comparable shares of Hispanic and Black students, with a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races. Asian students and American Indian or Alaska Native students each represent a very small portion of the population. Data on the number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, receive special education services, or are English learners was not available in the source data, so a reader cannot draw conclusions from those metrics here.
Academically, the school’s performance on state assessments places it in a challenging position relative to other schools within Porter County. On the 2024-25 ILEARN, a proficiency index that takes the average of all tested subjects and grades put the school in the bottom quarter when compared with other districts in the county. In math, about a quarter of students met the state’s proficiency benchmark. In English language arts, roughly one in five students did. In science, a little more than a third of students scored proficient. In social studies, fewer than one in five did. These results show that a majority of students at Paul Saylor are not yet reaching the state’s academic standards in any of the four tested subjects. A parent concerned about academic performance would want to look into this further with the school, to understand what interventions, instructional approaches, or targeted supports are in place.
Because Paul Saylor is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on chronic absenteeism was available in the source materials. The school environment data was thin: no information on discipline rates, staffing ratios, or course access was present in the dataset we used. The district brief returned no recent changes or initiatives of note from publicly reported sources, so we cannot speak to any new programs or strategic shifts at the district level.
For families who live in Valparaiso, the school sits within a city that offers a college-town feel, a historic downtown, and proximity to both Lake Michigan and Chicago. The academic picture at Paul Saylor is one where the school is serving a diverse population in a growing community, but where state test results indicate that the majority of students are not yet performing at grade-level proficiency. A parent evaluating this school should seek out information from the school directly about its curriculum, support for struggling students, and any academic improvement efforts underway.
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