The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in Social studies. The lowest is 51% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Struthers Middle School
Struthers Middle School serves grades five through eight in a small, declining industrial city in Mahoning County, about four miles from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. The school has a student body of roughly five hundred, about three-quarters of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the working-class character of Struthers and the Youngstown metro area.
On state testing, the school's results sit in the bottom quartile of districts across Mahoning County. In English language arts, about half the tested students reached proficiency. Math proficiency runs slightly lower. Science shows the strongest performance, with proficiency near the low-to-mid range. The school maintains nearly complete participation in state assessments, and the handful of proficient students in each subject group indicates that instruction is reaching some students solidly while others are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks. A parent considering this school may want to ask directly about intervention support for students not yet proficient and about how classroom instruction is differentiated to serve the full range of learners.
The student population is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students and a small number of Black students. The school's racial composition mirrors the broader Struthers area. Civil-rights documentation and data on special education enrollment or English learner status were not available in the payload.
Struthers itself is a former steel town that has experienced steady population loss since the mid-twentieth century but continues as a working-class residential suburb of Youngstown. Housing is older and affordable, built mostly between 1900 and 1960 in bungalow, ranch, and Cape Cod styles. The city has been working incrementally on downtown revitalization through the Discover Struthers plan, focusing on multimodal transit, riverfront improvements, and downtown enhancements. A new library branch is in planning for a site near Yellow Creek Park. The local economy rests on small-to-mid-size manufacturers, retail, and health care rather than any single large employer.
The district placed a permanent improvement levy on the ballot in May 2022 to address aging school buildings, many now over fifty years old. The levy replaced an expiring bond and facilities maintenance fund, giving the district dedicated revenue for ongoing HVAC, roofing, flooring, and structural upkeep. Families buying property in the district should expect to see this levy reflected on their property tax bills. At the elementary level, Struthers has adopted a Science of Reading curriculum (CKLA for literacy, Bridges for math, SAVVAS for science), aligning with Ohio's statewide reading mandate; middle school curriculum information was not provided in the data.
The school's testing results indicate students are making progress but that a substantial share are not yet at grade level in core subjects. For families prioritizing measurable proficiency growth and robust intervention systems, this is a detail worth exploring directly with school leadership.
See more original research from School Decision →