The top reported proficiency rate is 44% in English language arts. The lowest is 14% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Roll Hill School
Roll Hill School serves prekindergarten through sixth grade in Cincinnati, housed in a small school of about that size for its grade band. The enrollment is heavily concentrated among Black students, with a modest share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of Asian, white, and multiracial students. Race and ethnicity data show the school, but free-and-reduced-price lunch numbers and special education or English learner rates were not available in the data.
The school sits within Cincinnati Public Schools, a district that has recently made deliberate moves around literacy instruction. The district adopted Wit & Wisdom as its core English Language Arts curriculum with Wilson's Fundations for foundational skills in kindergarten through third grade, trained K–3 teachers in the Science of Reading and structured literacy, and saw third-grade reading proficiency rise measurably from one year to the next under this approach. Roll Hill's performance on state tests reflects the work underway.
In the most recent state testing data, Roll Hill's English language arts proficiency sits in the lower-middle range at just under half of tested students meeting proficiency. Math proficiency is substantially lower, with only a small share of students reaching proficiency; science proficiency is similarly low. The school's performance on these metrics places it in the bottom quartile among the county's school testing outcomes. State testing data for social studies dates to 2016-17 and is not current enough to reflect the school's present instruction.
The school's position is consistent with what the district faced heading into the 2025-26 school year. Cincinnati Public Schools closed a significant budget gap by reducing classroom positions and making changes to transportation and support services. The district also ended its contract with the Cincinnati Health Department to staff school health offices, moving to in-house nursing, and paused several planned program expansions. These changes affect staffing and support availability across the system, including at Roll Hill.
On a positive note, voters renewed the district's emergency operating levy in November 2025, locking in stable annual funding for the next decade without raising property taxes. This provides continuity for the district's preschool expansion and core K-12 operations, including neighborhood school options, college-and-career readiness programs, and student technology.
Cincinnati itself is a city of dense neighborhoods and historic character, with public transit including Metro buses and a free streetcar connecting downtown, Over-the-Rhine, and the riverfront. Housing values in the area are moderate, and the market has been cooling with increasing inventory. The city is anchored by major employers including consumer products, healthcare, finance, and higher education, with steady but not explosive growth.
Roll Hill represents an elementary school within a district undergoing instructional shifts in reading, particularly at the early grades where the Science of Reading training is concentrated. The proficiency data suggests the school has work ahead in both math and literacy, and the recent district budget cuts mean fewer classroom positions and support staff available. For families considering the school, the key questions are how these recent budget changes affect classroom size and resource availability, how the Science of Reading training translates to instruction in Roll Hill classrooms, and what targeted support is available for students not yet meeting proficiency in math.
See more original research from School Decision →