Summary:
Zip code 24016 in Roanoke, Virginia is home to two elementary schools — Highland Park Elementary and Hurt Park Elementary — both serving grades PK-5 as part of Roanoke City Public Schools, a district ranked 117th out of 131 in Virginia. Both schools serve extremely high-poverty populations, with free/reduced lunch rates above 100%, reflecting universal meal eligibility.
Highland Park Elementary is the clear standout in this zip code, ranking 477th out of 1,111 Virginia elementary schools (57th percentile) with a 3-star rating and overall SOL proficiency of 72.0%, essentially matching the state average of 71.6%. The school is especially strong in 4th grade, with math proficiency at 87.3% and reading at 83.1%. By contrast, Hurt Park Elementary ranks 1,080th out of 1,111 elementary schools (3rd percentile) with a 0-star rating and overall SOL proficiency of just 42.1%, nearly 30 percentage points below Highland Park. Hurt Park's chronic absenteeism rate of 32.4% is nearly double Highland Park's 17.5% and more than double the state average of 14.8%.
Notably, Hurt Park actually has more resources per student — a better student-teacher ratio (9.4:1 vs. 11.8:1) and higher per-student spending ($14,920 vs. $13,194) — yet performs far worse, suggesting that factors like chronic absenteeism and instructional quality matter more than funding alone. Hurt Park's math scores also decline sharply as students get older, dropping from 52.1% in 3rd grade to 32.7% in 5th grade. Highland Park shows a different pattern, with relatively weak 3rd grade math (46.2%) but a strong surge by 4th grade. While Highland Park's overall proficiency slipped from 76.1% to 72.0% year-over-year, Hurt Park remained essentially flat around 42-43%, showing little progress despite its low baseline.
Thank you for your feedback!