The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in Social studies. The lowest is 15% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Riverside Community School Inc. Dba Riverside Academy
Riverside Academy is a small kindergarten-through-eighth-grade charter school in Cincinnati, located on the city's west side near River Road. It serves about 184 students across nine grades, with a substantial majority of students identifying as Black, while white and multiracial students form the next-largest groups. The student body is diverse by background; free-or-reduced-price-lunch data was not available, so income composition is not clear from the records.
The school's academic performance on Ohio's State Tests is below typical benchmarks. Among tested students in grades three through eight during the most recent school year, proficiency in English language arts was around one-quarter of the cohort, while math proficiency was substantially lower at one-sixth. Science proficiency was closer to one-third. When positioned against other public and charter districts across Hamilton County, Riverside Academy falls in the bottom quartile on an overall proficiency measure that averages across tested subjects. These results suggest the school is working with students who enter with significant academic needs or that instructional approaches may need adjustment; either way, a parent considering this school should examine the school's improvement trajectory and the specific supports it offers.
The school operates as a single-school charter district under the name Riverside Community School Inc., managed by the ACCEL Schools network and sponsored by the Ohio Council of Community Schools. This governance structure means it is not reliant on local property tax referendums and operates outside the traditional Cincinnati Public Schools system. The school has publicly reported receiving an Ohio Momentum Award in 2024, a recognition of progress, though specific details on curriculum changes or new initiatives in recent years are limited in available public materials.
Riverside Academy serves a neighborhood context in which median home values and rents are below state and national averages. The surrounding Cincinnati area offers urban walkability in certain neighborhoods, a public library system ranked among the largest in the country, and employment anchored by consumer products, healthcare, and education. The immediate proximity to the Ohio River and mixed-income neighborhoods shapes the day-to-day setting for families here.
No information was available on graduation rate, chronic absenteeism, English learner enrollment, or special education enrollment. Kindergarten through second grade do not appear in state testing data because those grades are not assessed in Ohio, so early-elementary performance cannot be described through standardized measures. A parent exploring this school should ask directly about early literacy approaches, elementary instructional methods, and the school's internal assessments for the untested grades, as well as its data on growth from entry to exit.
See more original research from School Decision →