Summary:
ZIP code 44506 on the south side of Youngstown contains two public schools, both independently chartered elementary campuses serving 369 students combined: Youngstown Academy of Excellence, a K–8 school with 243 students, and Youngstown Preparatory Academy, a K–6 school with 126 students. Each is also its own district — Youngstown Academy of Excellence and Youngstown Preparatory Academy — so both are ranked against 773 Ohio districts, making them direct peers for comparison.
The two schools are moving in opposite directions. Youngstown Preparatory Academy raised overall proficiency from about 35.8% to 57.3% in a single year, roughly +21.5 points, and climbed from the 20th to the 42nd percentile statewide, earning 2 stars. Four of its nine tested areas met or beat the state average, including 3rd-grade math at 84% (state 62.1%) and 3rd-grade ELA at 80% (state 63.4%). Youngstown Academy of Excellence remains at the 10th percentile with 1 star; none of its 14 tested areas reached the state average in 2025–26, and its overall proficiency is 28.8%. Its chronic absenteeism is 71.5% — more than seven in ten students — versus 38.4% at the Preparatory Academy, a 33-point gap.
Both schools are strongest in the early grades and weakest in the middle grades, with grade 6 a soft spot at each and grades 5–7 where the lowest results cluster. The Academy of Excellence is not uniformly weak — 8th-grade math rose from 7.7% to 50%, within 2 points of the state's 52% — but that gain and a +4.9-point overall uptick rest on a few grades while 8 of 14 areas declined. Treat these numbers with care: grade-level results come from small cohorts, free/reduced-price lunch is not reported for either school, spending data exists only for the Academy of Excellence and dates to 2018–19, and the Preparatory Academy's reported 63:1 student–teacher ratio warrants caution.
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