Summary:
Zip code 26250 in Belington, West Virginia, is served by two public schools within the Barbour County Schools district, which together educate 528 students across elementary and middle school grades, with no high school located in the immediate area.
For parents, the standout story here is Belington Elementary, which has become a genuine math powerhouse relative to its surroundings. The school’s 51.6% math proficiency rate towers over both the district’s 29.8% and the state’s 39.4%, and it has made a remarkable leap in state rankings, climbing from the 12th percentile to the 30th percentile in just one year. This academic strength is supported by favorable student-teacher ratios (13.3:1) and higher per-student spending ($11,265) compared to its middle school counterpart. However, the elementary school’s ELA proficiency (36.6%) lags behind the state average (47.6%), indicating that while math instruction is clearly a priority, literacy remains an area needing attention.
In contrast, Belington Middle School presents a more mixed picture. While its ELA proficiency (39.2%) beats the district average (32.6%) and its 6th grade ELA nearly matches the state, the school struggles significantly in science, with only 16.1% proficiency overall and a particularly alarming 9.9% rate in 8th grade. The transition from elementary to middle school also appears disruptive, as math proficiency drops sharply from 51.6% to 34.1%. The middle school receives $1,385 less per student than the elementary school, which may contribute to these challenges. Both schools are improving their state rankings, but the district itself ranks in the bottom 4% of West Virginia districts, and the absence of a local high school means students face yet another educational transition after 8th grade.
Thank you for your feedback!