Burnsville Elementary School

Burnsville Elementary School is a small, rural school in Burnsville, WV, serving just 88 students in grades PK-5 as part of Braxton County Schools. It offers a notably personalized learning environment with a student-teacher ratio of 10.3:1, which is better than most nearby schools like Frametown Elementary School (14.6:1) and Sutton Elementary School (15.0:1).

The most striking thing about Burnsville is its unusual academic profile: math is a clear strength, while reading lags behind. In the most recent school year, 45.5% of students were proficient in math—beating both the district (32.3%) and state (39.4%) averages—but only 30.3% were proficient in English Language Arts, which is well below the district (41.2%) and state (47.6%). This 15-point gap is the opposite of what you typically see in most schools, where reading scores are usually stronger than math. In fact, Burnsville's math scores are competitive with the top-performing schools in the district, like Sutton Elementary School (56.9%) and Frametown Elementary School (54.6%), while its reading scores are the lowest in the district. The 3rd grade reading proficiency is especially concerning at just 20%, though it improves to 41.2% by 5th grade.

Despite these challenges, Burnsville has shown meaningful improvement over the past few years. The school climbed from being ranked dead last in the state (0th percentile) in 2020-2021 to the 16th percentile today, earning a 1-star rating. Progress for students from low-income families has been particularly encouraging, jumping from the 18th to the 40th percentile in just two years. The school also spends about $11,671 per student, which is on the lower end compared to peers like Little Birch Elementary School ($13,595) but still provides solid resources. With its small class sizes and proven success in math, Burnsville has a strong foundation to build on—the key opportunity is applying those same successful strategies to boost reading instruction.