Best Public Schools in Fairborn, OH

Fairborn, Ohio has five schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade: two elementary schools, one middle school, and two high schools. Four belong to the Fairborn City district — Fairborn Primary School, Fairborn Intermediate School, Fairborn Middle School, and Fairborn High School — which ranks 476 of 773 Ohio districts (38th percentile, 2 stars). Fairborn Digital Academy is a separate district. Total enrollment across all five schools is 4,518 students, and PK–5 students make up about 51% of that total, so the city's school system is weighted heavily toward the early grades.

Attendance is the most urgent concern. Chronic absenteeism runs 35.2% at Fairborn High School and 30.5% at Fairborn Middle School, both above the Fairborn City rate of 26.6%. Fairborn Intermediate School (20.3%) and Fairborn Primary School (22.7%) are below the district rate, but still roughly one in five students. Math is the clearest academic weakness at every level. Fifth-grade math at Fairborn Intermediate School is 48.6% proficient versus 59.1% statewide; sixth- and seventh-grade math at Fairborn Middle School are 38.1% and 33.2% versus state; and Fairborn High School's Integrated Math II is 2.8% versus 35.3% state. Algebra I (53.0%) and Geometry (40.9%) also trail the state.

There are real bright spots. Fairborn Intermediate School has the strongest recent record among Fairborn City schools (49th percentile in 2025–2026, after 52nd percentile and 3 stars in 2024–2025), and its fifth-grade science is 64.3% proficient, above the state's 62.7%. Fairborn High School beats the state in American Government (80.5%), American History (78.9%), and English II (68.8%), and graduates 91.6% of students. Fairborn Middle School's Algebra I is 100% proficient, though that reflects a small, selective group. Fairborn Digital Academy is the starkest outlier: 1-star ratings, a 29.7% graduation rate, and scores below state in every subject. Fairborn Primary School, the largest school with 1,261 students, has no current test-score data.