The top reported proficiency rate is 55% in Science. The lowest is 35% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Crooksville Middle School
Crooksville Middle School serves grades five through eight in a small, rural village in Perry County that was once a pottery manufacturing center and retains a working-class, car-dependent character. The school enrolls a small student body, mostly white, from the village and surrounding area. No free-or-reduced-price lunch counts or English learner, special education, or chronic absenteeism data were available, so a full picture of student economic need and support requirements cannot be drawn from the data provided.
On state testing, the school's proficiency rates sit below the midpoint among Perry County districts. Science is the strongest area, where proficiency runs in the middle range. English language arts performance is notably lower, and mathematics is the weakest subject. Across all three tested subjects, less than half of students meet proficiency benchmarks, which means a majority of students are not yet at grade-level in core academic skills. The school tests at very high rates (near universal participation), so these results reflect the actual student population rather than a subset that chose to sit for assessment.
Without multi-year trend data, it is not possible to say whether performance is improving, holding steady, or declining. Only the most recent school year is available. The school operates within a district that has not asked voters for a new school levy since a prior year, meaning property-tax support has remained flat while per-pupil costs have likely risen; a parent may want to look into the district's longer-term fiscal outlook and any constraints this places on instruction or staffing.
On the positive side, the district provides free breakfast and lunch to all students, removing meal costs from household budgets. The district also secured federal grant funding for an after-school program called iLearn, which offers before- and after-school childcare and enrichment at the elementary school and expanded after-school hours at both the middle and high schools. These are concrete resources available to families in the district.
The village itself is small, with limited walkability and no public transit, so families need to be car-dependent. Housing values are well below state and national medians, making the area affordable, and a substantial share of the population lives below the poverty line. The economy has shifted away from its pottery heritage and relies now on scattered local employers and a broader regional labor market. For a family seeking a lower-cost-of-living rural location with stable property taxes and free meals, Crooksville can serve that need; for a family prioritizing strong academic performance in tested subjects, the data here suggests looking at other options in the county.
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