Original Research by School Decision on Brookfield High School
Brookfield High School is a small, rural public high school in Trumbull County serving grades nine through twelve, with enrollment concentrated in the low hundreds. The student body is predominantly white, and about two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school sits in an unincorporated residential township near the Pennsylvania border with a mature population and conservative character, where most families own single-family homes on large wooded lots and commute by car to work across the broader Shenango Valley region.
State assessment results for spring 2025 show mixed performance across subjects. In English language arts, just over one-third of students met proficiency. Math proficiency was lower still, near one-third. Science proficiency reached nearly half. Social studies was the clear strength, with three-quarters of students meeting the standard. The school does not currently publish a graduation rate, and comparison data for chronic absenteeism or overall proficiency rankings among Trumbull County districts is not available.
The locale itself is characterized by stable, affordable housing and no significant new development. Median home values are below the state average. Brookfield is a car-dependent community with no pedestrian downtown or fixed-route public transit; the school campus sits on the main shared grounds in Brookfield Center rather than in a commercial district. Residents work in retail, health care, manufacturing, and services, drawing on both local employers such as Bull Moose Tube in the Masury area and the broader employment market in nearby Pennsylvania and Ohio cities. The township's population has declined modestly since 2020. Civic life centers on the public library, the school district, the historical society, and local parks.
A material context for families is the district's bond situation and building condition. In November 2023, voters rejected a permanent improvement levy that would have supported facilities maintenance and upgrades. That same property where the K-12 campus opened in a single building has experienced structural issues, with floor and wall cracking requiring multi-year remediation through a state construction commission; a repair attempt in an earlier year did not hold, and a renewed construction project in 2023 forced the school to add time to the school day and shift start dates. The building work represents an ongoing fact of daily school life for families in the district, and the levy failure signals limited community appetite for tax increases to address such needs.
A parent considering Brookfield High should understand that test results show particular strength in social studies and science while reading and math proficiency lag behind the social studies benchmark. The school is small and embedded in a settled, low-growth, affordably-housed township with limited transit and dispersed employment. The district's recent capital funding challenges and ongoing building remediation work are real considerations that merit direct conversation with the school about facility timelines and operational impacts.
See more original research from School Decision →