Greensville Elementary

Greensville Elementary is a large PK–5 school in Emporia, Virginia, serving about 985 students in the Greensville County Public Schools district, which ranks in the bottom tier of Virginia districts. The school itself currently holds a 1-star rating, ranking in the 19th percentile of Virginia elementary schools — well below nearby Capron Elementary (73rd percentile) and Meherrin Powellton Elementary (57th percentile), and slightly below Totaro Elementary (29th percentile). Nearly all students come from economically disadvantaged households, with free/reduced lunch participation above 100 percent.

One of the biggest differentiators is cost versus results. Greensville spent $16,414 per student in 2023-24 — roughly double the per-pupil spending at Capron ($8,523) and Totaro ($7,986) — yet its test scores trail those schools in most subjects. For example, 5th-grade math proficiency is 67.4% at Greensville, compared with 85.7% at Capron and 91.7% at Meherrin Powellton. Chronic absenteeism is another major concern: 20.5% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, nearly five times the rate at Capron (3.8%) and well above the state average of 14.8%. The good news is attendance has improved dramatically from 42.1% in 2022-23.

Greensville's performance is not uniformly low. African American students rank in the 39th percentile compared with similar students statewide, and English Learners rank in the 63rd percentile — relative bright spots. However, disabled students rank in the 7th percentile, and White students' ranking fell sharply from the 76th to 6th percentile in one year. The school has shown it can improve, climbing from the 2nd percentile in 2016-17 to a peak of the 35th percentile in 2022-23, but it has since slipped back to the 19th percentile. Capron and Meherrin Powellton — schools with similarly high poverty rates but far better outcomes — suggest that attendance and school climate, not just demographics or funding, are key to turning things around.