8 Madison County area elementary schools ranked among state's top 700

Andy Knight, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind.
·1 min read

Dec. 5—ANDERSON — Eight Madison County area elementary schools have received top-700 recognition in Indiana from U.S. News and World Report.

The media company, known for its influential rankings and annual surveys of educational institutions, updated its elementary and middle school rankings for 2023-24 last month. The rankings include more than 79,000 public elementary and middle schools nationwide.

Local elementary schools ranked in the top 700 in Indiana include East (South Madison), 276; Shenandoah, 372; Eastside (Anderson), 382; Pendleton, 408; Daleville, 522; Maple Ridge (South Madison), 629; Lapel, 677, and Frankton, 680.

There are about 1,400 elementary schools in the state.

Anderson Community Schools officials were recently informed of Eastside's ranking.

"This recognition is a confirmation to teachers and staff for all their hard work and dedication with our students," Eastside Principal Val Scott said in a press release. "We have made a concerted effort to focus on the Science of Reading by adding a literacy instructional coach and a new literacy curriculum."

The methodology used by U.S. News to formulate the rankings focuses on state assessments of students who were proficient or above proficient in mathematics and reading/language arts while accounting for student backgrounds, achievement in core subjects, and how well schools are educating their students. Student-teacher ratios are applied to break ties in the overall score.

The rankings are based on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education.

"The ... rankings offer a way for parents to get a snapshot of their child's school and how well it is doing compared with other schools in their community," LaMont Jones, managing editor for education at U.S. News, said.

Follow Andy Knight on Twitter @Andrew_J_Knight, or call 765-640-4809.