Best Public Schools in Zip Code 42347

Zip code 42347 has five schools serving elementary through high-school grades, with 2,222 students enrolled; two of the three high-school-grade programs are small alternatives. The three larger schools are [linked]the high school[/linked], [linked]Wayland Alexander Elementary School[/linked], and [linked]Ohio County Middle School[/linked]. Across their 26 reported subject-and-grade results, scores averaged 5 percentage points above state results in 2025–26, but that overall strength masks important differences between schools and grades.

[linked]Ohio County High School[/linked] had the strongest consistently positive profile: it beat state results in all six reported subjects, by 4 to 21 points, including a 21-point advantage in grade-eleven writing. [linked]Ohio County Middle School[/linked] was above state results in seven of eight subjects, led by grade-eight writing at 23 points above state and grade-seven reading at 12 points above. [linked]Wayland Alexander Elementary School[/linked] had a more uneven profile: grade-six math and reading were 19 and 23 points above state, while grade-five writing was 18 points below and grade-four science was 14 points below. The two alternative programs’ test results are suppressed, so their proficiency cannot be assessed from these figures.

Recent results show the middle school gaining ground while the area’s average advantage narrowed: across the same 26 comparisons, the average gap fell from 6.6 points in 2024–25 to 5 points in 2025–26. The average gap widened by 2.6 points at [linked]Ohio County Middle School[/linked], but narrowed by 4.3 points at [linked]Ohio County High School[/linked] and 3.1 points at [linked]Wayland Alexander Elementary School[/linked]. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 rankings were 81st percentile for the high school, 79th for the middle school, and 47th for Wayland; Wayland’s ranking declined from 62nd percentile in 2023–24. In 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 57% at the high school, 66% at the middle school, and 68% at Wayland, while student-teacher ratios were 17.8, 16.4, and 16.0, respectively—context that does not by itself explain the different results. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at the high school: 32% compared with 24% statewide.