Winesburg Elementary School, Winesburg OH

Original Research by School Decision on Winesburg Elementary School

Winesburg Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in a small unincorporated village in Holmes County's Amish country, drawing students from a tightly knit rural community. The school sits in a place where the rhythm of horse-drawn buggies mixes with car traffic on U.S. Route 62, and where the population has held steady at around a few hundred for many decades. The school itself is compact, with an enrollment across all seven grades that reflects the stable, small-town character of the place.

On state testing in grades three through eight, the school shows solid performance. In math, students achieved proficiency at a rate well above where typical district performance falls. Reading and language arts proficiency was somewhat lower but still respectable. Science proficiency was lower than both math and ELA, reflecting a pattern some smaller schools experience in that subject area; a parent may want to ask the school about science instruction and resources. The math and ELA results place Winesburg Elementary in the top tier among the county's districts when proficiency is averaged across all tested subjects and grades.

The student body is predominantly white, reflecting the demographics of the rural Amish Country region. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting a mix of family income levels in the attendance zone. Data on special education enrollment and English learner populations were not available.

The East Holmes Local school district, which operates Winesburg Elementary, recently announced a multi-year Phased Classroom Renovation Project that began in the summer of 2025. The district explicitly chose facility upgrades over school consolidation, meaning Winesburg and the other small neighborhood elementary buildings across the district—Berlin, Mt. Hope, Walnut Creek, Chestnut Ridge, Flat Ridge, and Wise—will remain open and will receive modern learning spaces. The renovation is being funded from set-aside reserves rather than a new tax levy, so families do not face a new tax bill. This signals a long-term commitment to keeping small community schools in operation.

For families considering a move to the area or weighing enrollment, Winesburg Elementary offers strong math performance in a preserved small-school setting with recent and ongoing facility improvements. The village itself has limited commercial services and no dedicated public library—library services come from the county level—but families may be drawn to the stable rural character, the Amish heritage of the region, and the elementary school's demonstrated academic strength. The school sits at the edge of the district's service area; families should confirm attendance boundaries with the district directly.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grades 3-889%

School 89% · District 84% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

English language arts

Grades 3-879%

School 79% · District 81% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Science

Grades 3-873%

School 73% · District 81% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 4100%

School 100% · district not reported

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 687%

School 87% · district not reported

▲ 23 pts above state median

This schoolEast Holmes Local, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income100%Higher-income93%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income83%Higher-income63%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income74%7 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income52%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income75%Higher-income100%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income100%Higher-income88%12 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income79%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income67%7 pp gap