Hartwell Middle School

Hartwell Middle School is a 441-student Cincinnati Public Schools building at 8320 Vine Street in Cincinnati, Ohio, serving grades 4–8 in a neighborhood where a far higher-ranked school sits less than a mile away. Statewide, Hartwell ranks 869th of 1,046 Ohio middle schools (17th percentile, 1 star) in 2025-2026 — slightly below its own district's already-low standing. Over ten years of rankings, the school has never left the 1-star band and never reached the 30th percentile, drifting mildly downward from a high-water mark of 29th percentile in 2018-2019.

There are real bright spots. Fifth-grade math is a durable strength: 76.6% proficiency in 2025-2026, roughly double the district's 39.6% and above the state's 59.1%, and it has held near that level for four straight years. The school's effectiveness ranking for its African American students rose to the 53rd percentile (3 stars) — about three times its overall standing and the only sustained improvement signal in the profile. Chronic absenteeism, at 35.0%, is meaningfully better than the district's 44.6%, though it has now risen for two consecutive years.

Most weaknesses are concentrated in the upper grades. Hartwell trailed the district in 10 of 12 tested grade-subject areas in 2025-2026, with eighth-grade science at 15.8% and eighth-grade ELA at 28.1% against statewide figures of 61.2% and 58.3%. Math proficiency falls by roughly 40 to 50 percentage points the year after 5th grade, and that pattern has repeated across three consecutive cohorts. Hartwell outranks every nearby Cincinnati Public Schools middle school, but Norwood Middle School and Princeton Community Middle School post 2-star, 42nd–43rd percentile results, and Wyoming Middle School — 0.96 miles away — ranks 27th in Ohio with 5 stars, 10.5% absenteeism, and lower per-pupil spending.