Carylwood Intermediate School, Bedford OH

Original Research by School Decision on Carylwood Intermediate School

Carylwood Intermediate School serves a small, economically challenged student body in grades three through five in Bedford, a historic small suburb east of Cleveland. It is part of the Bedford City School District, which also covers Bedford Heights, Oakwood Village, and Walton Hills across a multi-community territory.

The school enrolls students who are predominantly Black, with a substantial majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. This makes Carylwood a school primarily serving low-income families in a district where the median home value is below both the state and national average, and where rental costs are modest relative to local incomes.

Academic proficiency at Carylwood lags across subjects. In the most recent state testing cycle, proficiency rates stood below the midpoint when the school is compared among Cuyahoga County's districts. English language arts proficiency was in the low-to-mid range; math proficiency was lower; science proficiency was notably weaker. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the composition and extent of these student groups, as they shape classroom experience and resource allocation.

The school is a regular public school with no magnet or charter designation. It serves a compact grade band typical of an intermediate building in the district structure. The district is in the midst of significant physical transformation. Voters approved a large bond issue in November 2023 to build three new facilities, including a new middle school and K-2 building both scheduled for completion in 2027. This means Carylwood's current cohort will experience a transition to a new building within the next few years, a factor worth discussing with the school about timing and continuity.

The district has recently reinstated Career and Technical Education programming across fifteen programs at the high school level, a development that expands post-secondary pathway options for families in these communities. That change does not directly affect Carylwood, which serves early intermediate grades, but it signals renewed attention to college and career readiness in the broader district.

Housing in the area is affordable by regional standards, featuring an older, mixed-style stock of brick bungalows, Tudors, and colonials along tree-lined streets. Bedford itself is a built-out, stable small town centered on a historic downtown square rather than a growth corridor. The economic base includes local healthcare (University Hospitals operating a branch here), senior care, and logistics, though most residents commute to larger employers in the broader Cleveland metro area.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grades 3-837%

School 37% · District 30% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

English language arts

Grades 3-843%

School 43% · District 39% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Science

Grades 3-846%

School 46% · District 42% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 467%

School 67% · district not reported

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 642%

School 42% · district not reported

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

This schoolBedford City, 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 6Lower-income80%Higher-income40%40 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income100%Higher-income100%0 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income100%Higher-income0%100 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income0%Higher-income60%60 pp gap