The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in Social studies. The lowest is 4% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Rosa Parks Elementary School
Rosa Parks Elementary School is a public elementary school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Middletown, Ohio. It enrolls a diverse student body spanning roughly equal shares of Black, white, and Hispanic students, with an additional portion identifying as two or more races. The school sits in a mid-sized city positioned between Cincinnati and Dayton that is in the early stages of downtown revitalization and modest residential growth, with modest home values and rents relative to national benchmarks.
The school's academic performance, as measured by Ohio's State Tests, shows low proficiency across tested subjects. In mathematics and English language arts for grades three through five, proficiency rates fall in the low range. Science proficiency is particularly low. This places the school well below the middle of performance among districts in Butler County. A parent should ask the school directly about reading support, math intervention programs, and any targeted initiatives underway to address these proficiency gaps. The school serves the full grade span of early elementary, so younger students at the school have not yet been assessed on state tests.
Middletown City Schools recently completed a major elementary redistricting that took effect in the 2025-26 school year, reconfiguring attendance boundaries across all elementary buildings and consolidating sixth graders from a dedicated center into neighborhood schools. Rosa Parks received classroom overflow from these changes. This redistricting is the district's first major reconfiguration since a prior restructuring and will affect which families attend this school depending on their address. The district is also simultaneously navigating significant staffing reductions tied to the expiration of federal pandemic relief funding, which has eliminated positions including elementary counselors and literacy tutors that had been added during the pandemic. A parent may want to understand how these staffing changes have touched Rosa Parks specifically and what support remains in place.
The broader Middletown context is that of a historic industrial city actively working to rebuild. Downtown features walkable streets, a restored opera house, and growing arts and restaurant scenes that attract young professionals and artists, though the surrounding neighborhoods remain largely car-oriented. The city is growing at a modest pace, with new townhome subdivisions on the east side near the interstate and a major downtown revitalization initiative anchored by a new public park, though this growth remains measured. Housing costs are moderate; mortgage and rent affordability are slightly better than national averages.
The school building itself is accessible and located on South Verity Parkway on the city's south side. The district's high school is undergoing a significant redesign with new experiential and project-based learning structures, career pathways, and on-campus real-world experiences, but those changes affect only high school students entering in the 2025-26 school year and beyond.
For a family considering Rosa Parks, the key factors are the low state test proficiency requiring honest conversation with the school about what is being done to address it, the recent redistricting and staffing reductions reshaping the building and its support capacity, and the school's place in a diverse, modestly growing city undergoing urban reinvestment. The fit depends on a family's preference for a smaller school in an early elementary setting within an actively changing district and city.
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