Summary:
Zip code 26040, covering McMechen, West Virginia, is served by a single school: Center McMechen Elementary School, a small PK-5 elementary school with 160 students within Marshall County Schools.
For parents, this school offers a notably personalized environment with a low student-teacher ratio of 8.9:1 and high per-student spending of $16,172. The school's overall math (45.6%) and English Language Arts (52.9%) proficiency rates exceed state averages, with particularly strong early elementary performance. In 4th grade, math proficiency reaches 63% and ELA hits 63%, both well above district and state levels. However, the school shows a dramatic "5th-grade cliff": math proficiency collapses from 63% in 4th grade to just 13.6% in 5th grade, and science proficiency is critically low at 4.6%—far below the state average of 34.6%. This suggests a significant transition challenge or a cohort-specific issue that parents of upper-elementary students should investigate closely.
The school's state ranking has been volatile, swinging from 115th (69th percentile, 3 stars) in 2023-2024, to 287th (19th percentile, 1 star) in 2024-2025, and back to 197th (45th percentile, 2 stars) in 2025-2026. Given the small enrollment, individual cohorts can dramatically skew results, so year-to-year comparisons may be less reliable. While the school's aggregate math and ELA scores are competitive, the severe science deficiency and 5th-grade math decline are urgent concerns. The substantial resources available—low class sizes and high spending—suggest the capacity to address these gaps, but current outcomes in upper grades indicate a need for targeted intervention. Parents should weigh the strong early grades against the upper-grade struggles when considering this school.
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