Summary:
Zip code 23860 is served by a single high school, Hopewell High, which enrolls 1,136 students in grades 9–12 as part of Hopewell City Public Schools. Because it is the only high school in the area, Hopewell High's performance is essentially the district's performance, and parents in this zip code have no other public high school option within their immediate area.
Hopewell High's overall state ranking places it in the bottom tier of Virginia high schools, ranking 319 out of 331 schools in the 2025-26 school year. The school's graduation rate is 85.1% compared to the state's 92.3%, and its dropout rate of 8.0% exceeds the state's 5.0%. Chronic absenteeism is also a significant concern, with 25.4% of students chronically absent versus 14.8% statewide. The student body has a very high concentration of economic need, as reflected in the free/reduced lunch figures. Academically, math is the school's biggest weakness: Algebra I proficiency in 9th grade was 56.35% versus 80.21% statewide, and Algebra II in 9th grade reached only 62.50% versus 94.43% statewide. Early high school history also lags, with World History I in 9th grade at 42.58% versus 72.24% statewide.
Despite these challenges, Hopewell High has notable bright spots. Seniors outperformed Virginia averages in several subjects in 2025-26, including Virginia/U.S. History at 67.74% vs. 54.32%, World History I at 90.00% vs. 78.11%, and Biology at 77.42% vs. 75.43%. The school also showed improvement from the 2023-24 ranking of 323rd to 307th in 2024-25, though it slipped back to 319th in 2025-26. For parents, the clearest opportunities for improvement are in Algebra I, Algebra II, and 9th/10th-grade history, along with efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and dropout rates. The school's strong senior-level results suggest that some cohorts and courses perform at or above state levels even while the overall school ranking remains low.
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