Summary:
Preston County Schools is home to just one high school, Preston High School, located in Kingwood, WV, serving grades 9-12 with an enrollment of about 1,056 students in a rural Appalachian setting.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Preston High School is a school with a strong graduation rate but significant academic struggles, especially in math. The school graduates 91.4% of its students, which is very close to the state average of 92.8%, showing that most students do finish high school. However, only 8.5% of 11th graders are proficient in mathematics—less than half the state average of 20.6%. This means roughly 9 out of 10 students are not meeting math standards, which is a critical concern for college readiness and career pathways. English Language Arts is the school's strongest subject, with 45.1% proficiency, though this is still below the state's 51.2% and has declined slightly from the prior year. Science proficiency sits at 18.3%, also below the state average of 23.6%.
The school's overall state ranking has been unstable, moving from 74th (2023-2024) to 86th (2024-2025) and back up to 77th (2025-2026) out of roughly 105-112 schools. This volatility, combined with a drop from a 2-star to a 1-star rating in recent years, places the school in the bottom quartile of West Virginia high schools. The student-teacher ratio is a positive at 14.6:1, allowing for smaller class sizes, and per-student spending was about $9,981 (though this data is from 2018-2019). While the school excels at keeping students enrolled and graduating them, the low test scores—especially in math—suggest that academic proficiency and rigorous learning may be taking a backseat to completion. Parents should consider these factors carefully, particularly if their child needs strong math support or is aiming for competitive post-secondary programs.
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