Summary:
Romney, West Virginia, is served by four public schools—one high school, one middle school, one elementary school, and one specialized state-run institution—together enrolling 1,622 students within the Hampshire County Schools district, which holds a solid 3-star rating and ranks 21st out of 54 districts in the state.
For parents, the standout story is Romney Middle School, which made a dramatic 23-percentile-point jump in state ranking—from the 38th to the 61st percentile—in just one year. Its ELA proficiency (50%) now exceeds the state average, and 6th-grade math (41.8%) is well above the state norm. In contrast, South Branch Elementary School is the city's biggest concern, earning a 1-star rating (16th percentile) with math and ELA proficiency at just 38.2%, and a steep decline in math from 56.1% in 3rd grade to 23.4% in 5th grade. Hampshire Senior High School is the most consistent performer, with a stable ranking and a strong 91.8% graduation rate, though 11th-grade math (15.6%) and science (16.1%) proficiency are critically low. The WV Schools for the Deaf & the Blind serves just 51 students from across the state, offering a unique specialized resource not captured in standard rankings.
The clearest takeaway is a systemic math and science crisis that begins in elementary school and worsens through the grades, while ELA performance is a relative strength at the middle and high school levels. The high school's favorable 11.8:1 student-teacher ratio and high graduation rate suggest strong support services, even amid low test scores. Ultimately, the elementary school is the critical lever: reversing the math decline there would give the middle and high schools a far better chance of lifting overall achievement in Romney.
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