Summary:
Smoot, West Virginia, is home to a single elementary school, Smoot Elementary, which serves 145 students in grades PK through 5 as part of the Greenbrier County Schools district.
For parents considering this school, the standout feature is an exceptional performance in 3rd-grade math, where 90.5% of students are proficient—a remarkable 36 points above both the district and state averages. However, this strength does not carry through the grades. The school experiences a dramatic "4th-grade cliff," with math proficiency plummeting to 47.6% and ELA dropping from 66.7% in 3rd grade to 42.9% in 4th grade. Overall, the school's math proficiency across all grades is 65.1%, well above the state's 39.4%, while ELA proficiency sits at 52.4%, also above the state average of 47.6%. Science is a notable weakness, with only 28.6% of 5th graders proficient, below both district and state averages. The school's state ranking has been volatile, earning 3 stars, then 4 stars, then back to 3 stars over the past three years, currently placing it in the 65th percentile.
The school benefits from a favorable 14:1 student-teacher ratio and spends a high $13,285 per student, reflecting the costs of operating a small rural school. Despite these resources, the inconsistent year-to-year performance and the significant grade-level disparities suggest that while the school has pockets of excellence—particularly in early math—it struggles to maintain that success across all subjects and grade levels. The 4th-grade slump and weak science scores are critical areas for the school to address, as the strong 3rd-grade results prove the potential for high achievement exists within this small, close-knit learning environment.
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