Rushwood Elementary School

Rushwood Elementary School is a K–4 school at 8200 Rushwood Ln in Northfield, Ohio, serving 355 students as the smallest of the three K–4 elementaries in the Nordonia Hills City district, and it currently ranks 268th of 1,560 Ohio schools — the 83rd percentile, 4 stars.

Rushwood is a solidly above-average school that has cooled off from an exceptional stretch. From 2015–16 through 2021–22 it held a very consistent 81st–86th percentile band, then jumped to the 97th–98th percentile for three straight years before settling back to 83rd in 2025–26. Part of that round trip reflects a change in what grades the school tests: Rushwood reported Grade 5 math results in 2022–23 and 2023–24 (100% proficient both years) but no longer does, while both Ledgeview Elementary School and Northfield Elementary School now post Grade 5 results. Where Rushwood clearly shines is math: Grade 3 math is 80.0% proficient and Grade 4 math is 89.8%, both above district and well above the state's 62.1% and 67.3%. The relative soft spot is early literacy — Grade 3 ELA at 77.1% is the only 2025–26 measure below its own district average of 83.5%, and Northfield, about a mile away, is 13.4 points higher on that same test.

Two numbers stand out for families. First, chronic absenteeism is 9.1% — the school's best figure in five years and 4.7 points below its district — which puts it in the same tier as higher-ranked neighbors like Independence Primary School (6.7%) and far ahead of schools in the Bedford City and Maple Heights City districts, where rates run 27% to 41%. Second, Rushwood achieves this with the highest student–teacher ratio among the three Nordonia elementaries (17.9, up from 16.1 in 2022–23) and the lowest per-student spending of the group ($12,518, a 2018–19 figure). The main opportunity area is its lowest-rated student group, economically disadvantaged students, now at the 65th percentile (3 stars) — a sharp drop from 93rd a year earlier and the single biggest drag on the school's overall rank.