Ragersville Elementary School, Sugarcreek OH

Original Research by School Decision on Ragersville Elementary School

Ragersville Elementary School is a small rural elementary school serving kindergarten through sixth grade in Sugarcreek, Ohio, a village of modest size in the heart of Ohio's Amish Country. The school enrolls a small body of students with relatively stable enrollment across grade levels, and the enrollment is drawn from a community where the majority of students are white, with a meaningful presence of Hispanic students and a small share identifying as two or more races. About one-third of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting moderate economic need across the enrollment.

On state testing, the school's academic profile is one of strength in mathematics and science paired with somewhat lower performance in language arts. In the most recent state assessment window, the school achieved high proficiency rates in mathematics and perfect proficiency in science. Language arts proficiency sits lower, placing the school's overall proficiency index in the top quartile among districts across Tuscarawas County. Reading and writing appear to be areas where some students lag behind peers in mathematics, and a parent may want to look into the school's approach to early literacy and writing instruction if that is a concern.

The school's recent testing data comes from a single year, so trend information is unavailable; the data does reflect full participation rates in all tested grades and subjects. Science testing, by design, covers only a subset of students at the elementary level. The school sits within Garaway Local School District, which operates four elementary buildings: Ragersville, Miller Avenue in Sugarcreek proper, Baltic, and Dundee. The district's strategic priorities and recent curriculum or facility changes were not available in public reporting, so a prospective parent may want to reach out directly to the district office to understand current initiatives.

Sugarcreek itself is a village with deep Swiss and Amish cultural roots, featuring a walkable downtown anchored by the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock, local museums, craft shops, and restaurants. The everyday landscape includes horse-and-buggy traffic, cheese makers, and heritage tourism. Belden Brick operates major manufacturing plants in the area, and a tourism-centered economy surrounds the visitor attractions and Amish-made goods. The village is not served by fixed-route public transit; families rely on private vehicles or, where applicable, horse and buggy.

Housing values in the zip code are moderate relative to the state median and notably below the national average, reflecting the rural character of the region. The local economic context shows steady employment and median household income in line with national benchmarks. For families drawn to a small-village setting with strong cultural identity and rural pace, Ragersville offers an elementary education in a tight-knit, heritage-oriented community where academic fundamentals in mathematics and science are solid.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grades 3-882%

School 82% · District 77% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

English language arts

Grades 3-874%

School 74% · District 75% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grades 3-8100%

School 100% · District 78% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 495%

School 95% · district not reported

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 6100%

School 100% · district not reported

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

This schoolGaraway 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 4Lower-income100%Higher-income94%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income89%56 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income29%Higher-income94%66 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income80%Higher-income100%20 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income89%22 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income94%52 pp gap