Summary:
Zip code 23109 is home to a single high school, Mathews High, which serves grades 8 through 12 and enrolls 333 students in Mathews County, Virginia. Mathews High is part of Mathews County Public Schools, a district ranked 53rd out of 131 in Virginia, and the school itself now sits in the 50th percentile of Virginia high schools with a 2-star rating. The student-to-teacher ratio is a low 11.6:1, and 73.27% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, indicating a high-poverty population that nonetheless achieves competitive results in several subjects.
Mathews High has been steadily improving, climbing from a rank of 233 of 329 schools in 2023–2024 to 167 of 331 in 2025–2026. In 2025–2026, 100% of 8th graders taking Algebra I scored proficient, far above the state average, and 91.67% of 11th graders were proficient in English Reading. Other strong results include 90% proficiency for 9th graders in both Geometry and Biology, and 80% in World History I. The main academic concern is 9th-grade Algebra I, where only 67.65% scored proficient versus the state's 80.21%. Chronic absenteeism of 18.8% is also higher than the state average of 14.8%, though the dropout rate of 3.9% beats Virginia's 5.0%.
Overall, Mathews High is a small school on the rise that outperforms state averages in several subjects despite serving a student body with high economic need. The school's strengths in middle-grade math, biology, history, and upper-level reading suggest targeted instructional success, while 9th-grade math support and improved attendance remain the biggest opportunities for growth. With continued attention to these areas, this high-poverty school appears well-positioned to continue its upward trajectory.
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