Schools in Zip Code 24504

Zip code 24504 in Lynchburg, Virginia, is served by a single public school: Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation, a 6th–8th grade middle school with 531 students in the Lynchburg City Public Schools district. Because no other schools operate in this zip code, families considering the area have one main option for middle school, and its performance is best understood in comparison to the district and Virginia statewide averages.

Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation shows a striking split in academic performance. On one hand, 8th graders taking Algebra I scored 92.31% proficient in 2025-2026, nearly matching the state average of 93.26%, and Earth Science proficiency reached 86.17% in 2024-2025. On the other hand, grade-level math proficiency is very low, with just 10.64% of 7th graders proficient in 2025-2026 — less than one-fifth of the state average. General 8th-grade science proficiency was also far below state levels at 17.39% versus 64.72% statewide. Reading is a relative bright spot: the school's 57.6% proficiency in English Reading tops the district average of 52.0%, though it still trails the state average of 73.2% by about 15 points.

The school faces significant challenges outside the classroom that likely affect outcomes. Chronic absenteeism stands at 34.0%, more than double the state rate of 14.8%, and 97.18% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, indicating an extremely high-poverty population. The school does benefit from a favorable 11.5:1 student-teacher ratio and $10,988 in per-student spending, but its state ranking has declined from the 21st percentile in 2023-2024 to the 7th percentile in 2025-2026, with its star rating dropping from 1 star to 0. For parents, this means pockets of excellence in advanced coursework, but significant concerns around grade-level proficiency, attendance, and overall school performance in recent years.