Indianapolis Public Schools School District

Indianapolis Public Schools serves 21,863 students across 48 campuses in Indiana's state capital. Of those 48 campuses, 47 carry a ranking, and the district average lands at 6.6 out of 10. That baseline frames the right question for parents: not how the district averages out, but how much the top schools outrun it.

George W. Julian School 57 earns a 9.5 — the district's highest score. Center for Inquiry School 70 matches that mark at the elementary level, and H.L. Harshman Middle School hits 9.5 as well, placing it at the peak of the district's middle school tier. Cold Spring School and IPS/Butler Lab at Eliza Blaker 55 score 8.5, completing a five-school cluster that consistently outperforms the district average by two or more points. Together, these campuses represent the clearest picture of what Indianapolis Public Schools can produce at its highest level.

Four of the five top-rated schools are elementary campuses. That pattern matters most to families with young children: two 9.5-rated elementary schools — George W. Julian and Center for Inquiry — show that strong performance at this level isn't limited to a single campus. H.L. Harshman's matching 9.5 at the middle school level means a student tracking toward the district's best programs doesn't lose ground in the transition.

For parents building a comparison list, the 6.6 district average is a floor, not a target. With 47 ranked schools across a 21,863-student system, individual campuses diverge significantly in quality. School-level scores carry the most signal here — the gap between a 6.6 and a 9.5 is meaningful, not marginal. The five schools rated 8.5 or above are the district's strongest starting points and the most productive first stops in any school search.