School and Community Analysis

Merrillville High School is a traditional public school in Merrillville Community School

Corporation. With a total of 2,021 students currently enrolled, Merrillville High School is very

interesting to take a deeper look at. From the outside, this school looks like it would be

stereotyped as a “bad school” because of both the academics and community surrounding it.

Looking at the statistics, both of these reasons are valid. But all it takes is a closer look into the

school to realize there is good in it as well. From the amazing people employed to help students

do their best not just academically but in all ways, to the positive ways the corporation works

within the community to make it a better place, Merrillville High School can make a difference

in the lives of the students that attend.

The academic side of the school doesn’t look too promising at first look. They have some

pretty dire statistics. On the Indiana Department of Education website, the school is classified as

“approaching expectations” in reference to state academic standards. Meaning they are below the

state standards. Only 40% of Merrillville High graduates earn a college or career credential;

compared to the 68.1% average. The school almost halves the state average when it comes to

meeting readiness benchmarks on the SAT, coming in at 23.9% of students being where they

should be (IDOE 2019). Overall these facts are not good and the school is doing its best to

combat them. Currently, students in the Honor Society are volunteering as tutors for people who

need extra help understanding their workload. The district also provides a subscription for online

24/7 tutoring so that students always have access to assistance. In the school’s mission statement

they state “It is our mission to implement the highest quality education,” (MHS 2023). Although

the current education the students are receiving doesn’t seem to be the highest quality, it does
seem like the high school is doing the best it can to change that and provide lots of opportunities

for the students to receive extra help.

Even though the statistics don’t look good, the curriculum the school uses is a great fit for

the school. They offer standard, honors, and retake sections of all the core classes so that students

can be in a classroom that is the best fit for their learning needs. If a student excels in a certain

subject they can be put in the honors section to be given a well-needed challenge. Likewise, if a

student fails a class and needs to retake it they are put in a class with other students retaking the

class. This helps both the student and the teacher because the teacher would know to teach the

class differently than the standard class and that the students in that section might need extra

help. On top of this unique way of splitting up core classes, Merrillville High also offers many

different electives for the students to take. Certain electives, such as Ceramics, can give students

a much-needed break in the middle of the day or a fun reason to come to school. Other electives

are more career-oriented and provide options for students who want to go straight into the

workforce or have prior knowledge before seeking an education. The school also offers many

different AP classes for students who are up for the challenge and would like the opportunity to

earn college credits.

In order to fund all of the many electives that Merrillville High School offers, they spend

$10,242.87 per student. There are three main places that this money comes from, federal funds,

state/local funds, and the Merrillville Education Foundation. This foundation is an organization

in Merrillville that raises money from donors and fundraisers to award grants to schools and

educators in the area. Out of the government portion of this funding, 98.6% of it comes from the

state while only 1.4% is federal money. 11% of the funding Merrillville High receives is

“needs-based” (IDOE 2019). The school can receive this needs-based funding because of the
economic status of the students. 59.2% of the students who attend the school are classified as

economically disadvantaged and 60.3% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. The

information provides insight into the environment of the student’s lives and how they are

growing up. It also gives a clearer picture of what the community surrounding the school is like.

The school offers many different programs to help students thrive even when their home

life may not be the best. Because over half of the students are economically disadvantaged, some

of them find a safe place at school. Their homes may not be as comfortable as school and for this

reason Merrillville High School created their MASH program. MASH stands for Merrillville

After-School Safe Haven and it is a program unique to Merrillville High that keeps the school

open an additional 4 hours Monday through Thursday. During this time students can stay in the

school library and are welcome to hang out with their friends, do homework, but more

importantly speak to licensed counselors. These counselors are available during all MASH hours

to talk to students who are struggling with both school or home issues and maybe don’t have any

other adults to talk to. MASH offers a safe place away from home for students who need that.

Merrillville High also offer other during school programs such as their guidance department and

licensed school social workers. They also employ a Family and Community Engagement

Specialist who communicates with families of students and helps to solve many different kinds

of problems. All of these departments are necessary because the majority of students who attend

are growing up in unstable homes and need the extra help.

These programs have also been put in place to try to keep students out of trouble.

Merrillville High School has some very concerning behavior statistics and these programs are a

way to combat them. Merrillville’s in school suspension rate is 6 times higher than the state

average and is currently sitting at 26%. (IDOE 2019). This behavior probably stems from the
community around the school. Crime rates are currently rising in the town of Merrillville and

they are classified as safer than only 39% of all other U.S. neighborhoods (NeighborhoodScout

2023). Recently, a 20 year old man shot 2 students, killing one of them, after meeting up for a

fist fight in the Merrillville High parking lot. Incidents like these have started to affect how the

students can interact with their community. The local mall has implemented a rule that visitors

17 and under must be accompanied by someone over 21 on Fridays and Saturdays after 4:00 pm.

The local amc movie theatre has created a rule like this as well where visitors under 18 must be

with someone 21 or older after 5:00 pm. Rules like this were created because of the behavior of

the students in and out of school. The community was influencing the students in negative ways,

which caused the students to then negatively affect the community.

Even though there have been negative affects in the community, there are also positive

ones that the school is creating. Pierce Middle School, which is one of the middle schools in the

Merrillville Community School Corporation, is home to the corporations Planetarium. This

planetarium is open to students, groups, and the public and offers a fun educational opportunity

and a positive thing to nearby. Merrillville High also offers many different extracurriculars that

interact with the community. They have a theatre department that puts on plays and musicals, a

music department that holds concerts of all kinds, and many different sports teams. All of these

events are open to the community and give positive options of things students can do with their

time.

All in all, it’s difficult to categorize Merrillville High School as a good or bad school

because there are so many different aspects to it. Looking at the plain statistics of their

academics, behavior, and community it doesn’t seem like the ideal school for a family looking to

enroll their kid. Digging deeper though, the school really seems to care. They offer so many
different ways of supporting students in their struggles, whether those be academic or home

based. With the opportunities the curriculum gives and programs like MASH, it seems like a

great school to attend. Although it has it’s ups and downs, it’s unfair to look at Merrillville High

as a straight up bad school. It can leave a positive impact on graduating sutdents and help uplift

the community while doing so.

 Bibliography

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