East Academy

East Academy is a K–8 school at 15720 Kipling Ave in Cleveland's 44110 ZIP code, serving 192 students as a standalone school that forms its own district, sitting within a cluster of ten comparison schools all within about 1.7 miles. For 2025–26 it ranks 1,517th of 1,560 Ohio schools — the 3rd percentile — with 0 stars, and its district ranks 732nd of 773. This is not a one-year dip: the school has stayed in the bottom quintile for a decade, and the last three years show a slide from the 13th to the 5th to the 3rd percentile.

Every one of the 14 reported state test results is below Ohio's average. The gaps are large: 6th grade math at 0% proficient against a 56.2% state rate, and 5th grade science at 4.2% against 62.7%. The clearest bright spot is 7th grade, where ELA reaches 56.3% (state 62.7%) and math 37.5% (state 48.6%). Chronic absenteeism stands at 67.8% — the second-highest in the peer group and well above the Cleveland Municipal rate of 54.3% — and it has stayed above 67% for five straight years. Meanwhile, East Academy spends $7,886 per student, the lowest in the comparison set, while holding the best student-teacher ratio nearby at 12.8 to 1.

Nearby schools show different results in the same neighborhood. Apex Academy, less than a mile away and also an independent K–8 charter, has 43.9% chronic absenteeism, ranks in the 35th percentile with 2 stars, and posts 3rd grade math at 80.5%, above the state rate. Two district schools in the same corridor, Kenneth W Clement (28.0%) and Hannah Gibbons-Nottingham Elementary School (34.9%), keep absenteeism 30–40 points lower. With 192 students, each grade has roughly 15–25 children, so one student can swing a grade-level result by 4–7 points — read the long-term trend, not a single year.