Summary:
ZIP code 44663 is home to two schools listed as middle schools, both in the New Philadelphia City district: Joseph Welty Middle School, which serves grades 6–8 with 668 students, and Central Elementary School, which is listed as a middle school but serves only 5th grade with 195 students. Together they cover grades 5–8 and enroll 863 students, with Joseph Welty accounting for roughly 77% of that total.
The two schools stand out in different areas, so parents should compare them with grade levels in mind. Central Elementary School posts strong 5th-grade results across the board, beating state averages in science, math, and English language arts in both 2024–25 and 2025–26; its widest margin was 5th-grade math, where it topped the state by 14.3 points in 2025–26 and 16.3 points in 2024–25. It also has the lower chronic absenteeism rate at 13.6%, below the district's 17.6%. Joseph Welty Middle School shines in advanced math: Algebra I End of Course proficiency was 97.9% in 2025–26 and 100% in 2024–25, far above district and state rates, and 8th-grade math reached 65.9% in 2025–26 and 77.3% in 2024–25 versus state rates of 52.0% and 47.6%. However, its chronic absenteeism rate is higher, at 19.3%, above the district average.
One trend worth watching is that Joseph Welty Middle School slipped in most subjects from 2024–25 to 2025–26 — 8th-grade science fell from 68.9% to 60.5%, 8th-grade math from 77.3% to 65.9%, and 8th-grade ELA from 64.4% to 59.0% — and its rank moved from the 76th percentile in 2023–24 to the 62nd percentile in 2025–26, with its star rating easing from 4 to 3. Central Elementary School's science score dipped from 77.8% to 70.3%, while math and ELA held steady or edged up. Note that per-student spending figures date to 2018–19 and free/reduced-lunch data is not reported for either school, limiting comparisons of resources and economic context.
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