Onaway Elementary School

As an average-sized elementary school in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Onaway Elementary School serves 462 students from grades pre-K through 5, run under Shaker Heights City.

Within Shaker Heights City, which oversees 7 schools and 4,650 students, Onaway Elementary School is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, Onaway Elementary School records that 50% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school reports 35% Black, 10% multiracial, 3% Hispanic.

On the resource side, On paper, Onaway Elementary School has 25 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 18.9:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 17.9:1 average. About 28% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

After controlling for student poverty, Onaway Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 78.2%, the actual is 75.2%, a residual of -3.0 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Cuyahoga County) records that median household income runs about $64,468, roughly 37% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Cuyahoga County runs 352 public schools (combined enrollment of about 155,924 students), of which Onaway Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Woodbury Elementary School, around 0.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Onaway Elementary School. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Onaway Elementary School at 1st of 4; the average score across the group is 67.1%.

The campus sits in a commuter-belt setting.

Looking at the recent track record. Over the past 7-year window, the student count ticked up 16%: 397 students in 2018 compared to 462 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 16.5:1 in 2018 to 18.9:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.