Great Western Academy

Schools in Great Western Academy serve students in grades K–8 in Columbus, Ohio (43204), with a single school — Great Western Academy — operating as its own district, Great Western Academy. With 694 students enrolled, a student-teacher ratio of 16.4, and per-student spending of $6,725 (2018–2019 data), this is an elementary school where families are looking at one option rather than comparing several, so the important story is how the school performs across grade levels and how that has changed over time.

Academically, proficiency is below the Ohio state average in every tested grade and subject in 2025–2026, with gaps ranging from 13.0 points in 5th grade ELA to 43.3 points in 6th grade math. The brightest spots are 5th grade ELA at 57.4%, 7th grade ELA at 46.1%, 3rd grade math at 40.9%, 5th grade math at 40.7%, and 8th grade ELA at 40.3%. Improvement has been real but uneven: 8th grade ELA rose 27.8 points (12.5% to 40.3%), 5th grade ELA rose 27.6 points (29.8% to 57.4%), and 8th grade math and science gained 17.5 and 16.2 points, while 6th grade ELA fell 9.7 points, 4th grade ELA fell 7.0 points, and 6th grade math fell 5.8 points. Overall, the school's simple average across tested subjects improved from 25.2% to 32.9%, a gain of 7.7 points while the state rose about 0.9 points — yet the school remains roughly 27 points behind statewide.

Several context points matter. The school has stayed in the 12th–16th percentile of state rankings with 1 star each year and a district rank of 674 of 773. Chronic absenteeism was 35.5% in 2025–2026, a significant barrier to learning, though the data do not establish cause. Free/reduced lunch status is not reported, so economic context cannot be assessed. The clearest academic targets are 6th and 7th grade math (12.9% and 14.5%) and 6th grade ELA (21.0%), while 5th grade ELA shows what strong results can look like here.