Summary
Buckingham County Elementary is a grades 3–5 elementary school in Dillwyn, Virginia, serving 351 students within the Buckingham County Public Schools district, a rural system that ranks in the bottom 10% of Virginia districts. The school earned 1 out of 5 stars for the 2025–2026 school year, placing it at the 25th percentile statewide (833rd out of 1,111 Virginia elementary schools). Nearly all of its students (99.43%) qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, making it one of the highest-poverty elementary schools in the region.
Academically, Buckingham County Elementary shows a mixed picture when compared with nearby schools. In 2025–2026, its 3rd grade math proficiency (69.37%) actually exceeded Scottsville Elementary's 57.89%, and its overall state rank was nearly identical to Scottsville's — despite Scottsville having far lower poverty, much lower chronic absenteeism, and roughly $6,000 more in per-student spending. However, Buckingham County trailed Scottsville significantly in 4th grade reading (65.14% vs. 79.17%), and it lagged Cumberland Elementary, a similarly high-poverty school about 14 miles away, in every comparable subject. The school's math scores sit close to state averages, but reading remains a major concern, especially 5th grade reading at 57.5% proficiency versus 72.42% statewide.
Attendance is another key challenge. Buckingham County Elementary's chronic absenteeism rate jumped from 11.9% in 2023–2024 to 20.9% in 2024–2025 — higher than Cumberland Elementary's 17.0% and more than double Scottsville's 9.0%, though better than Buckingham County Primary's 31.3%. The school spends $11,447 per student, the lowest among its comparison schools. That said, the school has shown long-term improvement, rising from the 4th–8th percentile range before 2020 to the 25th–33rd percentile in recent years. Given its high poverty rate, low spending, and attendance struggles, Buckingham County Elementary is getting more out of its resources than many similar schools — though substantial academic gaps remain.
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