Middle Schools in East Palestine City

East Palestine City has just one middle school, East Palestine Middle School, which serves grades 5 through 8 to roughly 265 students — about 66 per grade — as part of the East Palestine City district. Because it is the only school serving these grades, there is nothing to compare it against locally; the meaningful comparison is to Ohio as a whole. The district sits at the 36th percentile statewide (2 stars), while the middle school itself has climbed from the 33rd to the 48th percentile over the past two years, from 704th of 1046 to 543rd of 1046.

The school's strongest results come from its youngest students. Fifth grade ELA reaches 75.4% proficiency, 5.0 points above the state, and grade 6 posts 67.7% in both math and ELA — about 11.5 and 11.7 points above Ohio. Algebra I is the standout: 89.5% proficient, 27.9 points above the state and up sharply from 60.0%. Overall, the school now averages 56.0% in math (state 54.0%) and 62.9% in ELA (state 61.9%), after sitting below state in both subjects the prior year — a swing of roughly 7 points in math and 12 in ELA relative to the state.

The upper grades are where the school struggles. Eighth grade science is 39.4% against a state figure of 61.2% — a gap of 21.8 points — and it fell from 46.2% while the state held nearly flat. Grade 7 ELA is 7.1 points below state, and grade 8 math is 9.4 points below. Chronic absenteeism is high, at 24.1% at the school and 24.7% across the district, or roughly one in four students. In short, East Palestine Middle School is an improving, mid-pack school with a strong lower-grade and Algebra I profile, offset by clear upper-grade and science weaknesses and attendance concerns.