The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in Science. The lowest is 17% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Citizens Academy Southeast
Citizens Academy Southeast is a charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade in the Lee-Harvard neighborhood of Cleveland. The school is part of Breakthrough Public Schools, a charter network, and operates on a single campus that it now shares with Citizens Leadership Academy Southeast, a grades 6-8 middle school that uses project-based learning aligned with EL Education. This arrangement creates a defined K-8 pathway for families on one site.
The school's student body is predominantly African American. Enrollment is distributed fairly evenly across the grade bands, with slightly fewer students in the seventh-grade cohort and more in the fifth-grade group. The school did not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or special-population data (special education and English learner identification), so parents may want to ask the school directly about the composition of these groups if that matters for their decision.
On Ohio's state assessments for grades three through eight in 2024-25, Citizens Academy Southeast's proficiency rates are considerably lower than state expectations. In English language arts, proficiency was in the low range, and in mathematics it was substantially lower still. Science proficiency, measured only for a subset of students, fell in a similar band. The school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile when compared to other districts in Cuyahoga County. These are factual results that reflect where students are performing right now; a parent should ask the school directly about its improvement plans and what supports or interventions it has in place for students who are not yet proficient.
Starting in the 2024-25 school year, all Ohio public schools, including Citizens Academy Southeast, must teach reading using the state-approved Science of Reading approach, which emphasizes phonics, phonemic awareness, and explicit instruction in vocabulary and comprehension. Teachers had to complete training in this approach by June 2025. This is a meaningful shift in early literacy instruction that affects what families can expect in the K-5 classrooms.
The school sits in Cleveland's Lee-Harvard area, a neighborhood within the broader city that includes a mix of residential and commercial zones. Housing values in the school's zip code are below the state of Ohio benchmark, and rents have risen noticeably year over year. Cleveland itself has seen modest population growth in recent years after decades of decline, with the strongest development activity concentrated in the downtown core, University Circle, Ohio City and Tremont. The broader region continues to experience population shifts toward exurban counties, and most new housing construction in Greater Cleveland is happening outside the city limits.
For families considering this school, the key question is fit around academics: the state test results show a school with a substantial gap between current performance and proficiency benchmarks, which means students are likely receiving instruction aimed at closing that gap, but results to date are well below typical performance. The charter structure and now-shared campus with a project-based middle school are factual characteristics that parents should understand as part of the enrollment decision, especially if they are weighing other options. Direct conversation with school leadership about academic support, curriculum choices beyond reading, and progress monitoring would help parents understand the school's trajectory and whether it matches their child's needs.
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