Summary:
Zip code 24526 contains just one elementary school: Big Island Elementary, which serves grades PK through 5 with a small enrollment of 182 students in the rural Big Island area of Virginia. It is part of Bedford County Public Schools, a district ranked 35th out of 131 districts in Virginia. The school earned a 3-star rating for 2025-2026 and ranked at the 53rd percentile statewide, improving from a 2-star rating the prior year but still below its 62nd-percentile performance from 2023-2024.
Big Island Elementary is a high-poverty school, with 82.42% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Despite this, its 2025-2026 mathematics performance was exceptional: 90.32% of 3rd graders, 79.17% of 4th graders, and 93.33% of 5th graders passed the math SOL, each exceeding district and state averages by wide margins. Reading, however, is a clear concern. Third-grade reading proficiency was 61.29%, 4th grade 66.67%, and 5th grade 73.33% — all below the district average, with 3rd and 4th grades also trailing the state. Science and Virginia Studies scores were mixed but generally near or below district levels. The school has a low student-teacher ratio of 14.9 and spends about $9,621 per student, but chronic absenteeism is elevated at 15.1%, above the district's 11.8% and the state's 14.8%.
The key takeaway for parents is that Big Island Elementary shows clear strengths in math, which is especially notable given its high poverty rate. However, reading proficiency, chronic absenteeism, and inconsistent science scores indicate that overall academic stability is still developing. Because the student body is small, individual cohorts can cause large year-to-year swings — for example, 5th grade math jumped from 71.88% to 93.33% in one year while 5th grade science fell from 81.25% to 66.67%. This means trends should be monitored over multiple years before drawing firm conclusions, but the school's ability to post above-average math results is a promising sign for families considering this school.
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