Best Public Schools in Elliston, VA

Eastern Montgomery Elementary (PK–5) and Eastern Montgomery High (9–12) serve about 630 students in Elliston, Virginia, a predominantly low-income community with no middle school located within the city. Both schools belong to Montgomery County Public Schools, a district ranking in the 61st percentile statewide (51st of 131 districts, 3 stars), yet both Elliston schools sit in the bottom 12th and 8th percentiles respectively. This suggests the district's overall performance is driven by schools elsewhere, making these two significant underperformers within their own district.

Eastern Montgomery Elementary (12th percentile, 1 star) has better attendance than its high school counterpart—chronic absenteeism is 11.0%, below the district (13.6%) and state (14.8%). However, math proficiency drops sharply from 63.79% in 3rd grade to 36.36% in 5th grade, and 5th-grade science sits at only 43.94%. Eastern Montgomery High (8th percentile, 0 stars) struggles with a 28.2% chronic absenteeism rate—roughly double the state rate—despite spending $16,628 per student and maintaining a favorable 9.8:1 student-teacher ratio, about 43% more per pupil than the elementary school's $11,646. The high school's graduation rate of 91.6% is below the district (93.8%) and state (92.3%), but its dropout rate of 2.7% is encouragingly better than both district (4.0%) and state (5.0%) averages.

A striking finding is Eastern Montgomery High's collapse from the 44th percentile in 2024–25 to the 8th percentile in 2025–26, with declines across nearly every subject—Algebra I dropped from 92.5% to 73.53% proficiency, and Biology fell from 87.1% to 63.79%. At the elementary level, the one notable gain was 4th-grade VA Studies jumping from 30.3% to 60.0% proficiency. The absence of a middle school means grades 6–8 students likely travel outside the area, which could contribute to transition challenges. Overall, both schools serve high-poverty families (85–88% free/reduced lunch) and face significant academic challenges, making them clear targets for intervention, despite the elementary school's solid attendance and the high school's small class sizes and relatively low dropout rate.