The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Rising Stars at Carthage
Rising Stars at Carthage is a public early-childhood school operated by Cincinnati Public Schools, serving pre-kindergarten through first grade. The school sits in Cincinnati's Price Hill neighborhood, an older mixed-income residential area on the city's hillside west side, where the housing market has modest values and steady demand relative to the broader Cincinnati metro.
The school enrolls a small cohort of students across three grades. The population is majority Hispanic and Black, with a meaningful share of students identifying as Black and another as Hispanic or Latino. The enrollment data supplied did not include free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts or special population counts, so family income context is not available from the data on hand.
On the Ohio state assessment given to third grade (the only tested grade served by the school), Rising Stars at Carthage reported no students reaching proficiency in either English Language Arts or mathematics in the year the data was collected. The tested count was very small, and a parent may want to ask the school directly about this result, the school's instructional approach, and any recent changes in how reading and math are taught. The district has undertaken a major shift in early literacy instruction, adopting structured literacy and the Science of Reading approach, with third-grade proficiency rising noticeably from the prior year to the following year. Since Rising Stars serves first grade as the highest tested grade in this dataset and the data is from the 2021-22 school year, the result may reflect either the timing of the assessment or the school's specific student population at that moment; either way, it warrants a conversation with the school about current outcomes and instructional direction.
The district's 2025-26 budget environment involved layoffs and cost reductions. Cincinnati Public Schools trimmed more than a small number of classroom positions, and changes to health and athletic staffing occurred across the system. Rising Stars, as a Title I-eligible elementary school within the district, operates within this context. The district renewed its operating levy in November 2025, which secures operating funding and continues support for preschool expansion through Cincinnati Preschool Promise.
Cincinnati itself is a dense, neighborhood-defined city with a downtown core that has seen major downtown convention-district redevelopment and ongoing housing growth. Price Hill, where the school sits, is a hillside neighborhood with a mix of single-family and multifamily housing typical of older Cincinnati residential areas. The nearby riverfront entertainment district and downtown cultural institutions are accessible by bus and streetcar, though the immediate neighborhood is car-dependent given its hillside terrain. The broader housing market in the Cincinnati area shows moderate activity with listing supply and demand both somewhat softened from the prior year.
For families choosing early childhood programs, Rising Stars offers a neighborhood-based option within CPS's preschool and early elementary system. The school's small size and early-grade focus mean parents should inquire directly about the school's class composition, specific instructional methods, and transition planning to elementary grades, as well as about how it participates in Cincinnati Preschool Promise or other access programs.
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