Summary:
Zip code 24739, serving the Princeton, WV area, is home to just one public high school: Pikeview High School, part of Mercer County Schools, which serves grades 9 through 12 with an enrollment of 629 students.
For families in this area, Pikeview High School is the only public option, making its performance especially important. The school has shown significant volatility in its state ranking, swinging from 18th in the state (84th percentile) in 2024-2025 down to 50th (52nd percentile) in 2025-2026. This dramatic drop aligns with steep declines in test scores across all subjects. Most concerning is science proficiency, which fell from 33.9% to just 19.6%—a 14.3-point drop that now places the school 4 points below the state average. Math proficiency also slipped to 20.6%, exactly matching the state average but trailing its own district's 25.2%. English Language Arts remains the school's strongest subject at 47.7% proficiency, though it has fallen 3.5 points below the state average after previously outperforming it.
Despite these academic struggles, Pikeview High School maintains a strong graduation rate of 93.2%, exceeding both the district (89.2%) and state (92.8%) averages. This disconnect between high graduation rates and declining test scores suggests the school is effective at keeping students on track to graduate, even if academic proficiency is lagging. With a student-teacher ratio of 19:1, class sizes are relatively large, which may limit individualized attention. The school's ranking volatility—from top 16% to middle of the pack in just one year—points to potential inconsistency in instructional quality or changing assessment conditions. For parents, this means the school offers solid graduation outcomes but currently faces significant challenges in core academic areas, particularly science, that warrant close monitoring.
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