Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 24244

Zip code 24244 is home to just one middle school, Rye Cove Intermediate, which serves grades 5 through 7 with 138 students as part of Scott County Public Schools, located in the rural Clinchport area of southwest Virginia. Because it is the only middle school in the area, this analysis focuses on how it compares to its district and state rather than to neighboring schools. The school is small, with a favorable student-teacher ratio of 9.3 to 1, and serves a high-poverty population — 78.99% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Despite these challenges, Rye Cove Intermediate outperforms the Virginia state average in 6 of 8 reported SOL categories and posts an average proficiency rate of 72.8%, versus 70.2% for the district and 68.0% for the state.

The school's greatest strength is 7th grade math, where 81.82% of students are proficient, far outpacing the district's 55.95% and the state's 51.11% — a gap of more than 30 points over the state average. This follows a dramatic 15-point improvement from the prior year. Seventh grade reading is also strong at 75%, and civics at 70.45% is just above the state mark. The relative weak spot is 5th grade, the entry grade, where reading (66.67%) and science (64.91%) fall below both district and state averages. Fifth grade science dropped nearly 11 points year over year, while 5th grade math improved by about 7.5 points.

Chronic absenteeism at Rye Cove Intermediate is 12.8% — better than the statewide rate of 14.8% but above the district rate of 10.5%. The school's SchoolDigger state rank has slipped from the 72nd percentile in 2023-2024 to the 62nd percentile in 2025-2026, and its star rating dropped from 4 stars to 3 stars — worth monitoring even as test scores remain solid. Because the school only has 138 students, each grade-level score represents a small cohort, and swings of 10 to 15 points can be driven by just a handful of students. Overall, Rye Cove Intermediate is an above-average school with a standout 7th grade program and some vulnerability in its 5th grade entry year.