North College Hill Middle School

North College Hill Middle School is a grades 5–8 school with 457 students on W Galbraith Road in Cincinnati, part of the small North College Hill City district, and it ranks in the bottom 11% of Ohio middle schools with 1 star for 2025–2026.

The most important thing for parents to understand is that this school has performed in the bottom 15% of Ohio middle schools for a full decade, with no breakout year and no sudden collapse. Proficiency rates run roughly half the state level: 7th grade math is the weakest point at 5.5% proficient (about 1 in 18 students), and math gaps to the state are larger than reading gaps. The one clear bright spot is 8th grade ELA at 34.9%, the school's highest result and above its district average. Chronic absenteeism is the biggest issue — about half of students are chronically absent — but the rate fell 10.7 points in a single year, from 61.7% to 51.0%, the strongest sign of improvement in the data. Special education is the most severe gap, ranking 572nd of 572 Ohio schools for that group in 2024–2025.

Nearby comparisons are striking. Wyoming Middle School is 4.29 miles away and its exact opposite: 97th percentile, 90.5% proficient in 8th grade ELA, and 10.5% chronic absenteeism. The three Northwest Local schools — White Oak Middle School, Colerain Middle School, and Pleasant Run Middle School — outperform it by 30 or more points per subject, even though North College Hill spends more per student than all three. North College Hill does beat its closest neighbor, Mt Healthy Junior High School, in every 8th grade measure. Algebra I was once its standout strength — 64.0% proficient in 2023–2024, above the state — but has slid to 25.9%.