Summary:
Zip code 24634 is served by exactly one school: Twin Valley High, located in Pilgrims Knob, Virginia, and part of Buchanan County Public Schools. This small school serves grades 8 through 12, functioning as both a middle school and high school, with an enrollment of 179 students and a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.5:1. Nearly the entire student body (97.21%) qualifies for free or reduced lunch, indicating an extremely high level of economic disadvantage in the area.
Twin Valley High demonstrates clear academic strengths in several subjects. The school excels in Algebra I, with 100% proficiency among 8th graders in 2024-2025, and Geometry, where 87.5% of 9th graders were proficient in 2025-2026, both above state averages. Writing, Earth Science, and World History also show strong results. However, significant weaknesses exist in general 8th-grade mathematics, where only 9.09% of students were proficient, and in Biology and Geography, where proficiency rates hover around 44–58%, far below state averages. Eleventh-grade English reading also trails the state, with roughly 75–77% proficiency compared to 87–88% statewide.
Despite its low state ranking of 0 stars and a drop from the 25th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 8th–10th percentile in recent years, the school's graduation rate of 93.1% actually exceeds the state average of 92.3%. However, the dropout rate of 6.9% is more than double the district rate, and chronic absenteeism affects 22.9% of students, well above the state's 14.8%. The school spends $9,101 per student, which is modest given the high needs of its population. While small enrollment makes year-to-year percentages volatile, the pattern suggests a school that performs well in advanced math tracks but struggles to serve all students consistently across subjects, particularly in science and reading.
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