Morgan County Schools

Morgan County Schools in West Virginia serves approximately 2,123 students across 7 schools—4 elementary, 1 middle, and 2 high schools—in a rural setting, and currently holds a 3-star rating, ranking 27th out of 54 districts in the state.

For parents, the standout school is Warm Springs Intermediate School, which leads the district academically with a 53.9% math proficiency rate—15 points above the state average—and strong 5th-grade ELA scores. The most impressive turnaround story is Warm Springs Middle School, which jumped from a 2-star to a 4-star rating in just one year, with 8th-grade science scores (40.9%) that are more than 11 points above the state average. On the other end, Paw Paw High School is a serious concern: despite having the lowest student-teacher ratio (7.7:1) and highest per-student spending ($15,564) in the district, it holds a 1-star rating with only 12.1% math proficiency. In contrast, Berkeley Springs High School, the district's largest school, performs better overall with a 3-star rating and a 99.2% graduation rate, though both high schools struggle with math.

District-wide, science is a clear strength, especially at the middle school level, while elementary math is solid—Paw Paw Elementary School and Pleasant View Elementary School both exceed state averages—but these gains fade by high school. Notably, Widmyer Elementary, the district's largest elementary school, has no performance data available, leaving a significant gap in understanding early education. The district's graduation rate (99.3%) far exceeds the state average (92.8%), yet the disconnect between strong elementary results and weak high school outcomes, especially in math, suggests a transition problem worth investigating. Parents should note that higher spending and smaller classes don't guarantee success, as Paw Paw High demonstrates, while Warm Springs Middle achieves top results with the lowest spending.