Best Public Schools in Farmville, VA

Farmville, Virginia is served by three public schools in the Prince Edward County Public Schools district, together educating roughly 1,845 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, with all three schools sharing a common campus. The district as a whole ranks 121 out of 131 Virginia districts, yet each school has its own unique strengths and challenges that parents will want to consider.

Prince Edward Elementary is the largest school in the district with 823 students and the most consistent recent performance, swinging between 26th and 35th percentile rankings over the past three years and earning the district's only 2-star rating. Its 4th-grade reading proficiency jumped 15 points in one year to 73.64%, essentially matching the state average. Prince Edward Middle stands out for its exceptional advanced math results, with 100% proficiency in both 8th-grade Geometry and Algebra I, but standard grade-level math proficiency lags far behind, leaving a two-sided picture where high achievers thrive while many on-level students struggle. Prince Edward County High is the lowest-ranked school locally at the 6th percentile, yet it outperforms state averages in history courses and several advanced subjects, demonstrating that even the lowest-ranked school has notable bright spots.

All three schools report chronic absenteeism well above the state average of 14.8%, with the high school highest at 22.4%, and all report free/reduced lunch eligibility above 100%, a figure that signals economic hardship touches nearly every student in the district. The high school graduates 89.5% of its students and has a dropout rate of 4.0%, which is actually better than the state average. For parents, the picture is mixed: strengths in advanced math at the middle school, history at the high school, and reading gains at the elementary school, but real challenges in on-grade-level math, reading consistency, and attendance across the district. Closing these gaps at Prince Edward Elementary, Prince Edward Middle, and Prince Edward County High will require attention to the shared issues of absenteeism and economic disadvantage.