High Schools in Hopewell City Public Schools

Hopewell City Public Schools is served by a single high school, Hopewell High, which enrolls approximately 1,136 students in grades 9–12 and is the only comprehensive high school in this Virginia district. Because there is just one high school, the district-level statistics mirror the school’s performance, making it challenging to compare schools within the area, but easy to see exactly where Hopewell High stands relative to the rest of Virginia.

Overall, Hopewell High ranks near the bottom of the state — 319th out of 331 Virginia high schools for 2025–2026, with a 4th percentile ranking and a zero-star rating. The school’s graduation rate (85.1%) trails the state average (92.3%), and the dropout rate (8.0%) is higher than the state’s 5.0%. Chronic absenteeism is a major concern at 25.4%, nearly double the state average of 14.8%, and the free/reduced-price lunch eligibility rate exceeds 100%, indicating that virtually all students come from economically disadvantaged households. These factors likely contribute to significant proficiency gaps in key subjects, particularly math and writing. For example, 9th-grade Algebra II proficiency is just 62.5% versus 94.4% statewide, and 11th-grade Writing proficiency is 57.1% versus 79.9% — gaps of roughly 32 and 23 percentage points, respectively.

Despite the overall challenges, there are notable bright spots. Hopewell High’s 12th-grade students outperform the state in several subjects: 90% are proficient in World History I (state: 78.1%), 67.7% in VA & US History (state: 54.3%), and 77.4% in Biology (state: 75.4%). The school also showed year-over-year improvement in 9th-grade Geometry (70.8% to 80.0%) and 9th-grade Biology (82.7% to 84.9%). Still, these strengths are concentrated in small cohorts and do not offset the persistent gaps in Algebra I, World History I, and Writing. With a student–teacher ratio of 16.3 and per-student spending of $10,086, the school faces an uphill battle, but the pockets of success among older students suggest that targeted supports and maturing cohorts may offer a foundation for future gains.