Best Public Schools in Zip Code 44221

ZIP code 44221 in Cuyahoga Falls (Summit County, Ohio) contains five schools serving about 1,316 students: four K–5 elementaries — Lincoln Elementary School, Gordon Dewitt Elementary School, Elizabeth Price Elementary School, and Preston Elementary School, all part of Cuyahoga Falls City School District — plus one small 9–12 school, Schnee Learning Center, which reports as its own district. There are no middle schools here, so families leave the area for grades 6–8.

The elementaries are sharply divided. Gordon Dewitt is the clear standout: the only four-star school in the ZIP, in the top quartile statewide, and the top scorer on all seven 2025–26 tests — above the state average on every one, averaging 78.0 percent proficient against the state's 63.8 percent. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism (12.5 percent) and the lowest free/reduced-lunch rate (56.87 percent) among the elementaries. Lincoln, Price, and Preston all carry two stars and sit in the bottom half of Ohio. Their shared weakness is Grade 5: science averages 55.9 percent across the four schools versus 62.7 percent statewide, with Price at 34.4 percent and Preston at 43.2 percent, and Grade 5 English language arts is also soft, with Preston at 48.6 percent against 70.4 percent statewide. Grade 5 science shows the widest gap in the data — nearly 47 points between the lowest and highest school in the same district and ZIP.

Schnee Learning Center is a different story entirely: 71 students, a 60.6 percent graduation rate, 50 percent proficiency on the English II end-of-course test (state: 60.4 percent), and 78.5 percent chronic absenteeism, far above the 23.1 percent district figure for the elementaries. It also has no current-year rank and no reported spending. Notably, per-student spending and class size do not track with results here — the highest spender posts the weakest Grade 5 science score, while Dewitt achieves the best outcomes with the largest classes. Poverty lines up with performance loosely but not perfectly. Treat grade-level numbers with caution, since at these enrollments one student can swing a rate by roughly 2.5 points.