Donald E. Cline Elementary School, Cold Spring KY

Original Research by School Decision on Donald E. Cline Elementary School

Donald E. Cline Elementary School is a regular public school in Cold Spring, Kentucky, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the Campbell County school system. The school’s enrollment is of a size typical for an elementary building, with a student body that is predominantly white and includes smaller shares of Asian, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. About two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating a moderate level of economic diversity.

Academically, Cline Elementary performed well on Kentucky’s state assessments in the most recent school year. In both math and English language arts, proficiency rates across grades three through five were strong, with the majority of students scoring at or above the proficient level. The school’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades placed it in the top quartile relative to the six school districts in Campbell County, a position that points to consistently solid achievement. The strongest results came in third-grade reading and math, where roughly three-quarters of students met the proficiency bar. Fourth- and fifth-grade math and reading also showed a clear majority proficient, with fifth-grade reading particularly high.

The school’s science and social studies results were more moderate. At fourth grade, just over half of students reached proficiency in science, and at fifth grade, fewer than half did so in social studies. These subjects are tested less frequently, and a parent may want to ask the school how it approaches these areas, particularly social studies, where the outcome was the lowest among the reported subjects.

Because Cline serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate and no chronic absenteeism data to consider. Information on discipline, course access, and staffing was not available in the sources reviewed.

Cold Spring, where the school sits, is a primarily residential suburb a short drive south of Cincinnati. It is auto-oriented, with most commercial activity concentrated along the US 27 corridor and residential subdivisions branching off. The city does not have a traditional downtown; municipal offices are located along the main highway. High school students in the area attend Campbell County High School in neighboring Alexandria. Housing values in the surrounding zip code are moderate for the region, with typical home prices and rents that are above the state median but below the national median, and a rent-to-income ratio that suggests renting is reasonably affordable relative to local earnings.

No recent district-level changes that would directly affect families were identified in publicly available sources, so the school’s programming and policies appear stable at this time.

For a family looking at elementary options in Northern Kentucky, Donald E. Cline Elementary offers a consistently strong academic record in core subjects, a modestly diverse student body in a suburban setting, and a location convenient to the Cincinnati metro area. The weaker results in science and social studies are worth a conversation with school staff, but the overall pattern points to a school that is performing well compared with others in its county.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 377%

School 77% · District 62% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 56% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 61% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 377%

School 77% · District 64% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 62% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 67% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 46% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 47% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

This schoolCampbell County, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income72%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income80%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income74%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income52%Higher-income75%23 pp gap