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What's the most underrated thing about Big Walnut Middle School that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
973
Middle
DISTRICT 537 · STATE 482
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BIG WALNUT LOCAL·NCES 390467402639
Big Walnut Middle School
555 S Old 3c Rd, Sunbury, OH 43074 · (740) 965-3006 · Delaware County
GRADES 05–08MIDDLE31-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL973 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 82% of Ohio public middle schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- A-Three-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Ohio public middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
58 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.5:1 · STATE 17.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
20%
198 students
DISTRICT 20% · STATE 43%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 6 | 346 | 36% |
| Grade 7 | 313 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 313 | 32% |
Student demographics
26%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 25% · STATE 54% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Big Walnut Middle School→Big Walnut High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Big Walnut Local. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Ohio's State Tests 2024-25 . % Proficient or AboveEnglish Language Arts
81.9%
OH avg 59.8% . +2.3pp since 2021
Math
77.2%
OH avg 56.1% . +9.5pp since 2021
What this means: On the Ohio's State Tests, Ohio's statewide test, about 82 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 77 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Ohio schools, those numbers are about 60 and 56. Reading and writing scores are up about 2 points since 2021, while math scores are up about 10 points.
Ohio's State Tests results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 81.9% | 77.2% |
| 2023-24 | 81.5% | 79.3% |
| 2022-23 | 85.5% | 79.3% |
| 2021-22 | 79.6% | 67.7% |
% Proficient or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: Ohio's State Tests. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
80.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
81.1%
based on OH schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 81% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 81% typical for Ohio schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Ohio's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Big Walnut Middle School
Big Walnut Middle School's state test result (80.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Walnut Middle School this school | 973 | 20.3% | 80.7% |
| Nagel Middle School Cincinnati | 1,087 | 17.8% | 84.5% |
| Canfield Village Middle School Canfield | 774 | 20.4% | 86.9% |
| Avon Middle School Avon | 976 | 16.4% | 82.3% |
| Milford Junior High School Milford | 978 | 27.4% | 76.8% |
| A. I. Root Middle School Medina | 690 | 19.3% | 81.4% |
Matched among Ohio middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Big Walnut Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Ohio | In Delaware County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 80.7% | #82 of 316 | #8 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 77.2% | #168 of 637 ▼ 34 | #8 of 12 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 81.9% | #75 of 637 ▼ 5 | #7 of 12 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +5.9pp | #160 of 629 | #3 of 11 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 973 | #32 of 654 | #5 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.9:1 | #312 of 577 | #5 of 12 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 25.9% | #335 of 579 | #11 of 12 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.3% | #267 of 319 | #6 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +72.8% | #7 of 169 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
973
+372 (+62%) vs 2020
+176% since 1990-91, when it was 353
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
was 18.2:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 973 | 57.6 | 16.9:1 | 20% (198) |
| 2023-24 | 619 | 40 | 15.5:1 | 17% (105) |
| 2022-23 | 635 | 37.5 | 16.9:1 | 13% (85) |
| 2020-21 | 601 | 33 | 18.2:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 563 | 31.5 | 17.9:1 | 16% (89) |
| 2015-16 | 520 | 30 | 17.3:1 | 13% (66) |
| 2010-11 | 656 | 35 | 18.7:1 | 20% (132) |
| 2000-01 | 632 | 41 | 15.4:1 | 9% (56) |
| 1990-91 | 353 | 21 | 16.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Big Walnut Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 73% (563 to 973); teachers up 83% (31.5 to 57.6).
About Big Walnut Middle School
Big Walnut Middle School is a large middle-grades school that serves part of Sunbury, Ohio. The school enrolls 973 students in grades 5 through 8. Middle schools in Ohio average about 482 students, which makes this school 102% larger than average.
The 8 schools of Big Walnut Local, including Big Walnut Middle School, enroll 4,298 students.
Big Walnut Middle School is 86% White by enrollment. Next come 6% multiracial, 5% Hispanic, and 2% Asian. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 26%.
Its staff includes 57.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 16.9 students per teacher. The average ratio among middle schools in Ohio is similar, at 17.0:1. Roughly 20% of students at Big Walnut Middle School can receive free or reduced-price lunch. The figure for public schools in Delaware County is close, at 20%.
Big Walnut Middle School earns an A- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 82% of Ohio public middle schools.
Big Walnut Middle School is within a point of its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results (80.7% versus 81.1%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Ohio.
The county, Delaware County, is where the school is located. Median household income comes to about $133,540, about 59% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 3%. The county's public schools total 59, with about 44,100 students.
The closest school to Big Walnut Middle School is Big Walnut Elementary School, located about 0.4 miles away. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Big Walnut Middle School. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Big Walnut Middle School is 3rd of 8 on proficiency.
Locale data from NCES put Big Walnut Middle School in a town close to an urbanized area (Town: Fringe).
Big Walnut Middle School reported 601 students in 2020-21 and 973 in 2024-25. Changes that large sometimes follow a school adding or dropping grades, so the two figures may not cover the same grades. There were fewer students per teacher in 2024-25 (16.9:1) than in 2020-21 (18.2:1).
This page collects posts and questions about Big Walnut Middle School, such as fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Delaware County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
226,834
Census ACS
Median income
$133,540
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
59%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
3%
Below federal line
Schools in county
59
44,100 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Big Walnut Local
- Big Walnut High SchoolHigh · 1,299 students
- Big Walnut Intermediate SchoolElementary · 663 students
- Prairie Run Elementary SchoolElementary · 352 students
- General Rosecrans ElementaryElementary · 296 students
- Big Walnut Elementary SchoolElementary · 295 students
- Hylen Souders Elementary SchoolElementary · 289 students
Other schools in Sunbury
- Big Walnut High SchoolHigh · 1,299 students
- Big Walnut Intermediate SchoolElementary · 663 students
- Prairie Run Elementary SchoolElementary · 352 students
- General Rosecrans ElementaryElementary · 296 students
- Big Walnut Elementary SchoolElementary · 295 students
- Big Walnut Early Learning Center at Harrison StreetElementary · 131 students
Nearby schools
- Big Walnut Elementary School0.4 mi · 295
- General Rosecrans Elementary1.0 mi · 296
- Big Walnut Intermediate School1.5 mi · 663
- Prairie Run Elementary School2.1 mi · 352
- Big Walnut Early Learning Center at Harrison Street2.1 mi · 131
- Big Walnut High School2.1 mi · 1,299
Frequently asked questions
About Big Walnut Middle SchoolHow many students attend Big Walnut Middle School?
Big Walnut Middle School enrolls approximately 973 students in grades 05-08.
Is Big Walnut Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Big Walnut Middle School is a middle school covering grades 05-08.
How many teachers does Big Walnut Middle School have?
Big Walnut Middle School employs 58 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Big Walnut Middle School?
Student demographics at Big Walnut Middle School are roughly 86% White, 5% Hispanic, 1% Black, 2% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Big Walnut Middle School public or private?
Big Walnut Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Big Walnut Local.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.