Summary:
ZIP code 44408 in Columbiana, Ohio has two middle schools serving grades 5–8 — Crestview Middle School and South Side Middle School — which together enroll 656 students.
If you're comparing the two, South Side Middle School (part of Columbiana Exempted Village) is the standout. In 2025–2026 it ranked 39th out of 1,046 Ohio middle schools — the 96th percentile — and earned 5 stars, up from 112th the year before. It scored above the state in every listed 2025–2026 test, and in several grades it was 20–40 percentage points higher. Its chronic absenteeism rate was 9.3%, roughly 44% lower than Crestview's 16.7%. Crestview Middle School (part of Crestview Local) is also a strong school: it ranked 209th of 1,046 (80th percentile, 4 stars) in 2025–2026, improving from 288th the prior year, and beat the state in 10 of 11 listed tests. Its only below-state result was 5th grade Science at 53.7 versus 62.7 statewide.
Some context is worth knowing. Both schools reported 100% Algebra I proficiency, but that test is taken by a small group of advanced students, so it shouldn't be read as a school-wide score. The two schools serve nearly identical free/reduced lunch populations (40.87% at Crestview, 40.83% at South Side), yet South Side posted higher scores with a larger student-teacher ratio (22.2 vs. 15.9) and lower per-student spending in 2018–2019 ($7,932 vs. $10,202) — though that spending figure is not current. Both schools also outperform their own districts' average outcomes. Notably, South Side was higher than Crestview in all 10 comparable tests in 2024–2025 and every listed test in 2025–2026 except Algebra I, where both hit 100%.
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