Summary:
ZIP code 45634 in Hamden, Ohio contains exactly one public school — South Elementary — an elementary building serving grades PK–5 with 221 students, part of the Vinton County Local district in rural Appalachian Ohio. Because there is only one school here, the most useful comparisons for parents are between this school and its district and state, not between one local school and another.
South Elementary is a standout on the state stage. Its statewide rank has climbed steadily for three straight years, from 674th to 534th to 349th out of roughly 1,560 ranked Ohio schools, moving from the 57th to the 78th percentile and from 3 stars to 4 stars. In 2025-2026 the school beat the state on all seven state tests it reports, averaging 79.4% proficient against a state average of about 63.8% — roughly 15.6 points higher. Math is the engine: 4th grade math reached 97.1% proficient, nearly 30 points above the state, and 3rd grade math hit 83.3%. Fifth grade science staged the biggest turnaround, rising from 54.5% to 81.1% in a single year after falling below the state the year before. Only two results trail the district — 5th grade math (67.6% vs. 71.2%) and 3rd grade ELA (77.8% vs. 82.9%) — and both still beat the state.
On other measures, chronic absenteeism is 11.7%, roughly half the district's 20.1%, and the student–teacher ratio is a favorable 11.6 to 1. Two cautions: grade cohorts are small, so a few students can shift a result by several points; and the free/reduced-lunch figure is not reported while per-student spending data dates to 2018-2019. The ZIP also has no middle or high school, so students leave this building after grade 5 and the data cannot show whether these strong elementary results continue afterward.
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