The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 23% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Washington Park Community School
Washington Park Community School is a public K-8 charter located in Newburgh Heights, a small residential village south of Cleveland shaped by Polish, German, Italian, Irish, and Puerto Rican ancestry and centered around the industrial Cuyahoga River valley. The school sits within a dense, working-class neighborhood of century-old homes on tight streets, where most households are lower-middle income and car travel dominates; transit to downtown Cleveland takes more than an hour by bus, though Route 16 connects the area to the East 55th Rapid Station and Steelyard Commons nearby.
The school serves a small enrollment spread across nine grades. The student body is roughly half white, with a substantial share who are Black, a smaller share who are Hispanic, and a small share identifying as multiracial. Free-or-reduced-price-lunch data and counts of students with individualized education plans or English learner status were not available in the data.
State test results from the most recent school year show proficiency in English language arts at a modest level, with lower results in math and science. Across grades 3 through 8, English language arts proficiency stands at a rate below that of many district peers, and math proficiency is substantially lower still. Science proficiency, tested only at certain grade levels, is similarly low. Among the school districts in Cuyahoga County, this school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. Trend data spanning multiple years was not available, so whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability is unclear from the data provided. However, the district reported that the school earned the Ohio Momentum Award from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, a state recognition for schools showing significant academic improvement and student growth, a signal that matters to families evaluating a free K-8 charter option in this area.
The school operates as an independent charter, meaning it is not part of a traditional district and does not collect local property taxes. No graduation rate applies because it serves only through eighth grade. No information about course offerings, staffing levels, discipline practices, or attendance was available.
Housing in the zip code is modestly valued relative to state and national benchmarks and has declined slightly year-over-year. Median household income nationally is stable, and local unemployment sits at a typical level. Newburgh Heights itself has contracted slowly over decades rather than grown; the village is essentially built out, and recent effort focuses on preserving and rehabilitating existing housing stock through grants and community reinvestment programs rather than on new subdivisions.
A parent considering Washington Park would be choosing a small, tuition-free K-8 setting in a tight-knit working-class neighborhood with low mobility and limited transit. The school's recent momentum award suggests movement in academics, though current proficiency levels remain below the county median and a parent may want to look into more recent data, what academic supports and interventions are in place, and what the school's trajectory looks like beyond the award. The setting is stable, neighborhood-rooted, and resource-constrained, and the data shows an institution working to improve in a community that has been slowly shrinking for a generation.
See more original research from School Decision →