Summary:
Zip code 26167 is home to just one public elementary school, Short Line School, a PK-8 campus in Reader, WV, serving 364 students within the Wetzel County Schools district.
For parents, the most important takeaway is that Short Line School offers a strong foundation in the early grades but struggles significantly as students move into middle school. The school excels in 3rd grade, with math proficiency at 60.6% and ELA at 48.5%, both above state averages, and it also beats the state in 4th and 5th grade ELA. However, there is a dramatic "middle school cliff" between 5th and 6th grade: math proficiency drops from 38.9% to just 14.3%, and ELA falls from 52.8% to 25%, both far below state benchmarks. This suggests the transition to middle school is a critical weak point. Interestingly, 8th grade math is a bright spot, hitting 40% proficiency, which is well above both the district (27.5%) and state (34.2%) averages. Overall proficiency across all grades is 38% in math and 41.2% in ELA, both slightly below state averages, and the school holds a 2-star rating, ranking 229th out of 355 West Virginia schools.
The school's ranking has been volatile, swinging from the 42nd percentile in 2023-2024, down to the 13th percentile in 2024-2025, and back up to the 35th percentile in 2025-2026. With a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.2 and per-student spending of $19,449—a high figure likely due to its rural location—the school has resources and small class sizes. However, the inconsistent performance, particularly in the middle grades, indicates a need for targeted interventions to stabilize learning and ensure the early-grade strengths carry through to upper levels.
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