Equity
Indiana's Graduation Gender Gap Is Closing as Young Men Gain Ground
Indiana's male graduation rate gained 2.7 percentage points over a decade, narrowing the gender gap from 4.0 to 2.8 points as young men improved faster than young women.
Indiana
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Indiana, grounded in Indiana Department of Education data.
MSD Warren Township: From 64% to 21% in Four Years
Warren Township's chronic absenteeism fell from 63.6% to 21.4%, the largest 2021-to-2025 drop among Indiana school corporations with at least 10,000 students.
Muncie's Five-Year Comeback: From State Takeover to a 13-Point Graduation Surge
Muncie Community Schools posted five consecutive years of graduation rate improvement, gaining 13 points after being placed under state emergency management.
Indiana's Native American Graduation Rate Rose Just 1.9 Points From 2014 to 2025
Indiana's Native American graduation rate rose 1.9 points from 2014 to 2025, while the white-Native American gap narrowed only 0.2 point.
Vigo County Hit a New Absenteeism High While Indiana Kept Recovering
Indiana's chronic absenteeism rate fell for the third straight year, but Vigo County rose to 27.4% and became the only large traditional corporation at its 2013-2025 high.
More Coverage
District Spotlight
South Bend: Two in Five Students Are Chronically Absent
South Bend's 40.3% chronic absenteeism rate has more than doubled since 2013, and one school recorded 99.3% chronic absence.
Graduation Rate
Nearly Half of Indiana's School Districts Now Graduate 95% or More
173 Indiana school corporations with meaningful cohorts now graduate at least 95% of their students, up from about 90 a decade ago, with 24 posting a perfect 100%.
Special Populations
Indiana's Special Education Graduation Gap Shrank From 19 Points to 7
Special education students gained 13.2 percentage points over a decade, the largest improvement of any subgroup, collapsing the gap with general education peers.
Absence
Indiana's Absenteeism Problem Started Before COVID
Chronic absenteeism rose every year from 2015 to 2019, crossing 10% for the first time in 2018. The pandemic accelerated a trend already in motion.
District Spotlight
Gary's Graduation Rate Fell 28 Points in a Decade, Indiana's Steepest
Gary Community School Corp's graduation rate fell from 85.5% to 57.8% over a decade, the steepest decline of any Indiana corporation with a cohort of 100 or more, with most of the drop arriving after the 2017 state takeover.
District Spotlight
Two in Three Gary Students Miss Too Much School
Gary Community School Corporation's 63.6% chronic absenteeism rate is the highest among traditional districts in Indiana, and it has tripled since 2013.
Absence
60 Indiana School Corporations Have Returned to Pre-COVID Attendance Rates. 325 Have Not.
Sixty of Indiana's 385 school corporations have returned to their pre-pandemic chronic absenteeism rates. The other 325 remain above their 2019 baselines.
Equity
Indiana's White-Black Graduation Gap Was Nearly Halved in Three Years
The white-Black graduation gap in Indiana narrowed from 12.1 to 6.5 percentage points, with most of the closure happening in a rapid three-year span after 2022.
District Spotlight
Indianapolis Suburbs Hold Attendance in Single Digits as IPS Works Down From Its COVID Peak
Zionsville, Carmel, and Fishers keep chronic absenteeism under 8%. IPS, three years into a steady decline, is at 32%, a 26.7-point metro gap.
Policy
Indiana's Record Graduation Rate Comes With a Growing Asterisk
Indiana's grad rate gap (state vs. federal) nearly tripled since 2020. About 1,600 students now earn diplomas through waivers, not standard requirements.
