Indian Springs Elementary

Indian Springs Elementary is a K–5 public school at 3828 Home Rd in Powell, Ohio, serving 721 students in the Olentangy Local district, one of Ohio's strongest school systems. In 2025–26 it ranked 112th of 1,560 Ohio elementary schools (93rd percentile, 5 stars), and it has earned 5 stars every year on record, from 2015–16 through 2025–26.

By any absolute measure, achievement is high: proficiency runs roughly 20–26 points above the state in every tested subject and grade, and the school beats its district average in 6 of 7 subjects. The catch is its neighborhood. Seven Olentangy elementaries sit within about five miles, all rated 88th–96th percentile, and Indian Springs falls below that local peer average in 5 of 7 subjects, usually by 0.3–2.9 points. Its clearest head-to-head win is against its closest and most similar neighbor, Liberty Tree Elementary — 0.74 miles away, 727 students, a comparable poverty rate — which it beats in all seven tested subjects and which is the only school in the group to have slipped to 4 stars. Attendance is the standout: chronic absenteeism is 5.2% versus 9.2% district-wide and 15.1% for nearby Dublin City.

Two things bear watching. Poverty is rising — free/reduced lunch went from 5.5% to 9.15% in two years — and low-income students are the one group trailing, at the 45th percentile (2 stars); special education results have slipped from the 94th to the 62nd percentile (3 stars) over three years. English language learners, by contrast, have climbed to the 93rd percentile (5 stars). Science is the comparative soft spot: 5th-grade science at 82.5% is the lowest of any tested area and ranks 6th of 7 among Olentangy peers. The school's rank trend has cooled from the 98th percentile in 2015–16 to a 90th–93rd band since 2022–23, still at 5 stars. Resourcing is leaner than most peers — a 19.7 student–teacher ratio and 2018–19 per-student spending of $10,522 — yet results stay near or above district norms.