Summary:
ZIP code 47150 in New Albany, Indiana is home to two public middle schools — Nathaniel Scribner Middle School and Hazelwood Middle School — both serving grades 5 through 8 and both operating within the New Albany-Floyd County Con School district, with a combined enrollment of 1,739 students.
Scribner is the stronger of the two on nearly every measure. It ranks 209th of 486 middle schools statewide (57th percentile, 3 stars), while Hazelwood ranks 334th of 486 (31st percentile, 2 stars). Scribner outscores Hazelwood on all ten grade-level tests in the data, with the widest gap in 8th grade math (39.08% proficient vs. 17.44%, a 21.64-point difference). Scribner also beats the state average in three of those ten tests — 5th grade ELA, 8th grade ELA (53.78% vs. 44%) and 8th grade math — while Hazelwood falls below the state average in all ten, coming closest in 8th grade ELA (42.27% vs. 44%).
One important context point for families: both schools score below their own district average in every subject and every grade level tested, even though the district overall rates 4 stars and ranks 102nd of 374. The two schools differ most on poverty and attendance measures. Hazelwood's free/reduced lunch rate is 65.04% versus Scribner's 53.99%, and Hazelwood's chronic absenteeism is 22.6% versus Scribner's 19.2% — both above the district's 16.3% and the state's 16.7%. Per-student spending ($11,624 vs. $11,376) and class sizes (15.7 vs. 13.5 students per teacher) are close to equal, so neither explains the achievement gap here. On trajectory, Scribner climbed from 2 stars to 3 stars over three years and has held that rating, while Hazelwood has stayed at 2 stars near the 31st–32nd percentile, though it did improve year over year in math, science, and 5th grade social studies.
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