Summary:
Lancaster, Ohio is home to 11 schools — six elementary, three middle, and two high — serving roughly 7,235 students across Lancaster City (9 schools, about 6,036 students) and Fairfield Union Local (2 schools, about 1,199 students). Enrollment swings widely, from Lancaster High School at 1,995 students down to Bridges at just 18; the median school enrolls 587. Three Lancaster City elementaries — Gorsuch West, Mt. Pleasant, and Medill — each report 530. Two caveats matter: free/reduced-lunch percentages are blank for every school, so poverty comparisons are impossible, and spending figures reflect 2018–2019. Bridges has no test scores, rank history, or student/teacher ratio, so it is not academically comparable.
Fairfield Union Rushville Middle School is the strongest academic standout, ranking 307 of 1,046 (71st percentile, 4 stars) with a simple proficiency average near 71.5%, up from 68.3% the prior year, and low chronic absenteeism at 12.8%. Fairfield Union High School posts the top graduation rate at 98.7% and strong humanities scores, but Geometry is a serious weak point at 29.5% versus the state's 43.3%, down from 55.2%, and its rank fell from 80th to 61st percentile. Among Lancaster City schools, Tarhe Trails Elementary School leads at 57th percentile, 3 stars, roughly 68.8% proficiency, and the lowest absenteeism in the list at 12.5%; General Sherman Junior High School is the district's strongest middle school at 58th percentile, 3 stars.
The biggest challenges sit at Lancaster High School, which has the highest chronic absenteeism at 36.1% and ranks 36th percentile, 2 stars, and at the lower-performing Lancaster City elementaries. Tallmadge Elementary School, Gorsuch West Elementary School, and Mt. Pleasant Elementary School have the weakest profiles; Tallmadge's simple average is about 53.8%, and Gorsuch West's 5th-grade math is 30.7% versus the state's 59.1%. Overall, Fairfield Union's tested schools average about 70.9% proficiency compared with about 60.0% for Lancaster City's.
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