Summary:
Zip code 45345 is served by one middle school: Dixie Middle School, part of the New Lebanon Local School District in New Lebanon, Ohio. The school serves grades 5 through 8 with 291 students, and it accounts for the district's entire tested 5–8 population — so the school's results and the district's results are identical on all ten grade-level tests. Families in this area have a single public middle school option, which means the useful comparisons are against Ohio statewide averages and against the school's own prior years rather than against a neighboring school.
Start with what is working. Science is the clearest strength: 5th grade science scored 70.5% proficient in 2025‑26, about 8 points above the state, while 8th grade science rose to 63.4%, also above the state. Seventh grade English is essentially at state level (62.3% versus 62.7%). Algebra I looks spectacular at 93.8%, more than 30 points above the state, but that reflects a small, accelerated group of 8th graders rather than the whole building, so it is best read as advanced-course success, not as evidence of school-wide math strength. The student-teacher ratio of 11.1 is comparatively low.
Now the areas to watch. Sixth grade is the persistent concern: math at 30.3% (25.9 points below the state) and English at 38.2% (17.8 points below) are the two lowest scores reported, and they were the lowest last year as well. Eighth grade math fell from 48.0% to 40.0%. Overall, math averages about 13.9 points below the state and English about 9.4 points below. Chronic absenteeism is 18.0% versus the district's 15.2% — roughly 1 in 5–6 students — and the school holds a 2-star rating with its statewide rank sliding from the 49th to the 37th percentile over two years. Note that free/reduced lunch is not reported and spending data dates to 2018‑19, so context is limited.
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