Summary:
ZIP code 44841 has just one middle school option: Lakota Middle School, located in Kansas, OH, serving grades 5–8 to 288 students as part of the Lakota Local district. Because it is the only middle school in the area, there is no cross-school comparison to make, so the most useful benchmarks are the district, the state, and the school's own results from year to year. The school earned 3 stars in each of the last three reported years, with percentile ranks of 54, 57, and most recently 50. Its district, by contrast, is rated 2 stars and sits at the 42nd percentile (450 of 773 schools), suggesting the middle school is a relative bright spot locally.
Academically, the profile is uneven but has real strengths. Algebra I is the standout: 95.5% of students were proficient in 2025–2026 and 95.0% in 2024–2025, versus state rates of 61.6% and 59.4% — roughly 34 to 36 points above the state, though this test typically reflects a selected group taking an advanced course. Math was above the state in 5th, 6th, and 8th grades in both years, including 8th grade math at 69.7% (state 52.0%) and 5th grade at 77.3% (state 59.1%). The clearest weakness is 7th grade math, which came in at 32.7% versus the state's 48.6% and was also below the state the prior year. Eighth grade ELA and science lagged the state in 2025–2026 — ELA at 45.2% (state 58.3%) and science at 50.7% (state 61.2%). Fifth grade science and ELA, meanwhile, were above the state.
Beyond test scores, the school reported 11.3% chronic absenteeism in 2025–2026, lower than the district's 13.2%, a generally positive sign for instructional time. About 48.26% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2024–2025, and the student-teacher ratio was 16.9. Per-student spending was listed at $10,203, but that figure dates to 2018–2019 and should be treated as outdated. Overall, the picture is spiky rather than uniformly strong or weak, and families may want to ask about supports in 7th grade math and 8th grade ELA and science.
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