Summary:
Zip code 24101, located in the rural/suburban Hardy, Virginia area, is home to just one elementary school: Windy Gap Elementary, serving grades PK–5 with 391 students in Franklin County Public Schools. This school stands out because nearly 87% of its students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, yet it consistently outperforms both district and state averages on Virginia SOL assessments. In 2025–2026, Windy Gap posted an overall average proficiency rate of 87.0%, compared to 78.2% for the district and 71.6% for the state.
Windy Gap has shown remarkable improvement over the past two years, climbing from the 69th percentile statewide in 2023–2024 to the 81st percentile in 2025–2026, and raising its star rating from 3 to 4 stars. Its strongest area is 5th grade, where proficiency rates reached 97.92% in math, 95.83% in science, and 91.67% in reading — all well above state averages. The school also excelled in 3rd grade math at 89.09% and 4th grade Virginia Studies at 88.24%. The relative weak spot is 4th grade, where math proficiency dipped to 77.94% and reading to 75.00%, both below district averages, and reading fell from a much stronger 89.58% the prior year.
Other encouraging indicators include a chronic absenteeism rate of 12.3%, better than the district’s 15.4% and the state’s 14.8%, and a favorable 15:1 student–teacher ratio. Per-pupil spending is $10,283. Year-over-year gains were substantial: 3rd grade math jumped 13 points, 5th grade science soared more than 18 points, and overall proficiency rose from 82.3% to 87.0% while district and state averages stayed flat. Windy Gap Elementary is a high-poverty school that is clearly punching above expectations, and the main area to monitor is 4th grade reading and math.
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