Study Elementary School

Fort Wayne Community Schools, 2414 Brooklyn Avenue, Fort Wayne; prekindergarten through fifth grade; the Eagles; opened in 1927 and named for Superintendent Justin N. Study

The Namesake: Justin N. Study ran Fort Wayne's schools in the years when the district was building the system his successors inherited. The superintendent succession printed in Central High School's Caldron history places Study in the chair before R. W. Himelick's appointment in 1917, and when the board named the James H. Smart School, a period newspaper account noted that Superintendent Study favored the choice. The compiled list of Fort Wayne school openings enters his own school under his full name, as it enters the other schools named for the men who ran the district: 1927, Justin N. Study. Public School Review's profile gives a founding year of 1926; the compiled list's fall 1927 opening is followed here, and the difference is printed rather than settled.

The Setting: The school stands on Brooklyn Avenue on the city's west side, in an attendance zone of less than a square mile. In 1932 the city opened Study Park directly behind it, in the park system's long expansion of those years, and school and park have shared the ground since. Before and after school care runs in the building, and the genealogical society's page for the school preserves a student teacher's recollection of working there, published in 2011.

The Federal Record: Study's federal record starts late, and the gap is part of the record. Where the National Center for Education Statistics series for its sister schools begin in the late 1980s, Study's begins in 1999, with one hundred eighty three students. It jumps to three hundred five in 2000 and three hundred forty eight in 2001; in the same two steps the Hispanic count in the series rises from eleven students to ninety seven, becoming the school's largest group. It peaks at three hundred fifty eight in 2006, and then runs for two decades on a plateau near three hundred: three hundred twenty three in 2005, three hundred thirty in 2010, three hundred four in 2018, two hundred ninety two in 2023, two hundred fifty six in 2024, and two hundred sixty eight in 2025, taught by about twenty three teachers at roughly twelve students to a teacher. No source consulted explains the series' late start or the jump of 2000, and none is offered here. The school's 2025 makeup counts eighty three Hispanic students, the largest group at thirty one percent, seventy Black students, sixty four White students and forty four students of two or more races. Four in five of its students qualify for free or discounted lunch, the share stood above ninety percent through much of the 2000s and 2010s, and the state's Title I reporting put the school's poverty rate at 83.9 percent in 2023.

Standing: The same federal record is hard on the school's standing. SchoolDigger, working from state test data, ranks Study 990th of 1,005 Indiana elementary schools in 2025, the lowest of the district's thirty one, and its percentile among Indiana elementary schools has slid from 41.3 in 2010 to 1.5 in 2025. The district spends $14,710 per student at Study, the seventh highest figure among its elementary schools.

Today: The school's students are the Study Eagles; its site greets them with the words "We are the Study Eagles: Watch Us Soar." It runs a full day prekindergarten alongside its kindergarten through fifth grades. Behind the building, Study Park still holds the ground the city set aside for the neighborhood in 1932, and the school teaches about the same number of children it has taught for twenty years.

Sources:

1. History of Public Schools in Fort Wayne, compiled openings list, fortwaynesouthside.com, 2026: the Justin N. Study school beginning in 1927.
2. Central High School, Caldron yearbook history, 1963, full text at archive.org: the superintendent succession placing Justin N. Study before R. W. Himelick's appointment in 1917.
3. Allen County Genealogical Society, James H. Smart School page, Allen INGenWeb, 2026: the period account of the Smart School naming, noting Superintendent Study's support for the choice.
4. Allen County Genealogical Society, Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation page, Allen INGenWeb, 2026: Study Park opened in 1932, located behind Study Elementary School.
5. Allen County Genealogical Society, Elementary Schools in Allen County, Indiana, Allen INGenWeb, 2026: the student teacher's recollection, "A Lifetime of Elementary Schools, Part 2," published May 25, 2011.
6. National Center for Education Statistics, Study Elementary School (180363000948), as republished by SchoolDigger: the series beginning in 1999 at 183 students, 305 in 2000, 348 in 2001, the peak of 358 in 2006, 292 in 2023, 256 in 2024 and 268 in 2025; the 2025 makeup; free or discounted lunch at 80.2 percent in 2025; spending of $14,710 per student; a rank of 990th of 1,005 Indiana elementary schools in 2025.
7. Public School Review, Study Elementary School profile, 2026: a founding year of 1926, printed against the compiled list's 1927.
8. Indiana Department of Education, Title I school reporting, 2023, as republished: 282 students enrolled and a poverty rate of 83.9 percent.
9. Study Elementary School, school site, study.fortwayneschools.org, 2026: the Study Eagles and "Watch Us Soar"; the full day prekindergarten program.