The top reported proficiency rate is 81% in Math. The lowest is 55% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Thomas Jefferson Elementary School
Thomas Jefferson Elementary School serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Valparaiso, a city that functions as the county seat of Porter County and combines a college-town atmosphere with regional commercial and government activity. The presence of Valparaiso University, with its campus adjacent to downtown, gives the city an institutional anchor and a steady flow of cultural programming such as the Brauer Museum of Art. Major highway junctions and a location roughly fifty miles southeast of Chicago place Valparaiso within commuting range for families who work in the broader region, while the Indiana Dunes National Park lies a short distance north. The city has a historic downtown centered on Lincolnway, with freight rail still running through the area, and its hilly landscape on the Valparaiso Moraine is a local distinction.
Jefferson Elementary is a regular public school that reported a small enrollment for its grade band, with the student body distributed fairly evenly across kindergarten through fifth grade. The school draws from a community where housing values sit above the national benchmark but below the state benchmark, and the weighted rent for the area also runs above the national figure. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Racially, the enrollment is predominantly white, with Hispanic students making up the next largest group, and smaller shares of Black students and students of two or more races.
On the state ILEARN assessments, the school posted proficiency rates that place its overall performance across tested subjects and grades in the top quartile relative to districts in Porter County. Math proficiency reached a level that puts the school on strong ground for its elementary students. English language arts proficiency was also solid, though somewhat below the math result. Science proficiency, tested only in the grade where the state administers that exam, was similarly strong. Social studies proficiency for the tested grade landed at a lower level, a point a parent may want to look into further with the school. Participation rates for math and English language arts were full, while participation data for science and social studies were not reported.
Because Jefferson Elementary serves only the early grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the source material. The school does not appear to operate as a charter or magnet, and Title I status was not indicated in the data provided. No specific program offerings were listed.
The Valparaiso Community Schools district did not have any recent parent-relevant changes surfaced in publicly reported materials, so there is no information on referendums, curriculum shifts, or construction projects to relay. The district itself is the unit used for the countywide comparison that placed Jefferson Elementary in the top quartile for proficiency, a framing that accounts for all tested subjects and grades together.
For a family considering this school, the picture is one of an elementary school that sits within a middle-sized city with a college-town character, where academic results on state tests overall stand well above the midpoint of the county's districts. The main soft spot is the lower social studies proficiency figure, which is worth a conversation with the school to understand instructional approach or any cohort-specific factors. The school's size and grade span mean that the academic experience is concentrated in the foundational elementary years, with no high school outcomes to evaluate. The housing market in the area reflects a cost above the national average but below the state average, and the mix of residential, institutional, and commercial uses gives Valparaiso a density of activity that some families will find appealing and others may find busy. No chronic absenteeism or staffing data was available, so those aspects of school climate remain unassessed from the provided records.
See more original research from School Decision →