Summary:
Zip code 24066 is home to a single public high school, James River High, which serves grades 9 through 12 in Buchanan, Virginia, with an enrollment of 464 students. As the only high school in this zip code, the analysis focuses on how James River High performs relative to its district and state benchmarks. The school is part of Botetourt County Public Schools, a district ranked 7th out of 131 divisions in Virginia with a 5-star rating, which creates a strong local educational environment.
James River High is a standout school that consistently earns 5-star ratings and ranks in the top 10% of Virginia high schools. It ranked 22nd in 2025–2026, 23rd in 2024–2025, and 15th in 2023–2024 out of roughly 330 high schools statewide. The school posts a 96.2% graduation rate, well above the state average of 92.3%, and a dropout rate of just 1.8% compared to 5.0% statewide. Its student-teacher ratio of 14.9 supports small class sizes, and per-student spending is $10,470. Academically, the school excels in Geometry with 100% proficiency in recent years, and 11th-grade English Reading at 95.31% proficiency versus 88.13% statewide. World History I proficiency reached 87.39% versus 66.63% statewide.
One area worth monitoring is chronic absenteeism, which sits at 11.7%, higher than the district's 9.3% but still below the state's 14.8%. Another anomaly is 11th-grade Biology proficiency, which fell to 50% in 2025–2026, far below district and state averages, likely due to a very small testing cohort. Despite these concerns, James River High's consistent top-25 ranking demonstrates that a smaller school can achieve elite results. With only 464 students, the school benefits from strong district support and favorable class sizes, and its performance generally matches or exceeds district averages across core subjects.
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