Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 24016

Zip code 24016 contains just one middle school, Addison Aerospace Magnet Middle, which serves grades 6 through 8 in Roanoke, Virginia, as part of Roanoke City Public Schools. With 540 students enrolled, it is the only middle school option in this zip code, so there are no other local middle schools to compare it against; instead, the most useful comparisons are to the district and to Virginia statewide averages.

Addison Aerospace Magnet Middle ranks very low overall, placing 407th out of 416 Virginia middle schools for the 2025–2026 school year, and its district, Roanoke City Public Schools, ranks 117th out of 131 districts statewide. The school serves a very high-poverty population, with 97.22% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and 20.5% of students are chronically absent, which is better than the district's 25.0% but worse than the state's 14.8%. Grade-level SOL proficiency is a major concern: only 12.5% of 6th graders, 6.35% of 7th graders, and 12.5% of 8th graders are proficient in math, while reading proficiency ranges from 31.79% to 42.47% across grades, all far below state averages. The school invests heavily in its students, spending $15,906 per pupil with a favorable 11.2:1 student–teacher ratio.

The most striking finding is a sharp divide between advanced-track and grade-level coursework. Students in accelerated math and science courses perform remarkably well: 7th-grade Algebra I proficiency is 96.30%, 8th-grade Algebra I is 100%, and 8th-grade Earth Science is 82.61%, all at or above state averages. Meanwhile, regular 8th-grade science sits at just 29.79% proficiency. There is also encouraging progress, as 8th-grade science and civics improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026. The central takeaway for parents is that Addison Aerospace Magnet Middle clearly succeeds with students who reach advanced coursework, but the majority of students in standard grade-level math and reading are struggling significantly, highlighting an opportunity to extend the advanced-track success to the broader student population.