The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in Social studies. The lowest is 28% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Mcebright Community Learning Center
McEbright Community Learning Center is a small K-5 school in Akron serving about a quarter-thousand students. The student body is predominantly Black, with substantial representation of white and multiracial students, and a smaller Asian and Hispanic population. Free-or-reduced-lunch data was not available.
The school sits within Akron City Schools, which has undergone significant recent change. In November 2024, voters approved the district's first new school taxes in many years—a levy and bond package that will fund operations and build a new North High School. Before that vote passed, the district eliminated several hundred positions, including dozens of teaching jobs, to manage budget pressures. At the same time, Akron has rolled out a College & Career Academies model system-wide across all high schools, with expansion to elementary grades announced for 2024, making it one of the first districts nationally to deploy this inquiry-based, career-focused framework PreK-12. This pedagogical shift is now the lens through which instruction happens at McEbright.
On state testing, McEbright's results in 2024-25 fall substantially below the state norm. In math for grades 3-8, roughly a quarter of students scored at proficiency. In English language arts, that climbs to just over two-fifths. Science proficiency is near a quarter. All three subjects show full participation rates. The most recent comparable data point—social studies from 2016-17—showed roughly half the grade 4 cohort meeting proficiency, but that is now nine years old and may not reflect current conditions.
When compared to other schools in Summit County, McEbright's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among tested schools in the county. The school serves grades where state testing is administered, so the absence of data on graduation rate and chronic absenteeism reflects the K-5 grade band, not a reporting gap.
Akron itself is Ohio's fifth-largest city, with an economy anchored in healthcare (Summa Health, Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Akron Children's Hospital), research (Bridgestone's polymer labs), and a growing tech sector housed in the Bounce Innovation Hub downtown. The city is modestly walkable overall, though neighborhoods like Highland Square, Downtown, and Firestone Park offer more pedestrian-friendly street life. The housing market is tight; median home values have appreciated, and rental inventory is constrained. The 30-year mortgage rate sits around 6.5 percent.
A parent considering McEbright should recognize that the school operates within a district experiencing real transition—budget cuts and staffing losses offset by new revenue and a system-wide pedagogy pivot toward career and inquiry learning. The testing results show students are not meeting state proficiency benchmarks across core subjects. The school's size and grade band make it a neighborhood anchor rather than a destination choice. Families might want to discuss with the school directly how the College & Career Academies model is being implemented at the elementary level, and what literacy and numeracy support is available for students not yet meeting grade-level targets.
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