Summary:
Zip code 25201 is home to a single school, Mary Ingles Elementary School, a small rural school serving grades PK through 5 with 143 students in the Kanawha County Schools district.
Mary Ingles Elementary is a school of stark contrasts. The most alarming finding is its 5th-grade science proficiency rate of just 5.3%, which is more than five times lower than the state average of 34.6% and represents only about one student out of roughly 19. This is a persistent issue, as the previous year's score was also very low at 11.1%. On the flip side, the school shows a remarkable strength in 4th-grade mathematics, where 64.7% of students are proficient, far exceeding both the district (49.3%) and state (49.2%) averages. Overall math proficiency across all grades is 46%, which actually beats the district and state averages, but English Language Arts lags at 43.1% compared to roughly 47.6% statewide. The school's performance is highly inconsistent across grades and subjects—3rd-grade math and ELA are well below average, while 5th-grade ELA slightly exceeds the state average—suggesting that success may depend heavily on specific teachers or cohorts rather than a cohesive school-wide strategy.
The most concerning trend is the school's rapid decline in state ranking. It has dropped from 173rd out of 368 schools (3 stars) in 2023-2024 to 264th out of 355 schools (1 star) in 2025-2026, a fall from the 53rd percentile to the 26th percentile in just two years. With a favorable 15:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $14,730 (from 2018-2019 data), the school has resources that could support improvement, but the persistent science deficiency and declining overall trajectory point to systemic challenges. For parents, this school offers a personalized environment with clear pockets of excellence, particularly in 4th-grade math, but also significant academic weaknesses, especially in science, that warrant close attention.
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