Summary:
Zip code 26280, located in the rural community of Mill Creek, West Virginia, is served by a single public school: Tygarts Valley Middle/High School, which combines grades 6 through 12 under the Randolph County Schools district.
For parents considering this area, the most critical takeaway is that Tygarts Valley Middle/High School is currently among the lowest-performing high schools in West Virginia. In the most recent 2025-2026 school year, it ranked 103rd out of 105 schools statewide, placing it in the 2nd percentile with a zero-star rating. This represents a sharp decline from the prior year, when it ranked in the 12th percentile. Academic proficiency is alarmingly low across all core subjects: only 11.2% of students are proficient in math, 25.0% in English Language Arts, and 11.0% in science. These figures are roughly half the district averages and less than a third of state averages. The data also reveals a troubling pattern of decline as students advance—6th graders show the highest proficiency (43.9% in ELA), but by 8th grade, math proficiency plummets to just 3.5%, and 11th-grade science proficiency sits at only 7.0%.
Despite these severe academic struggles, the school reports a graduation rate of 90%, which is above the state average of 92.8% but below the district's 95.1%. This disconnect between very low test scores and a relatively high graduation rate suggests that students may be advancing without mastering essential skills. The school does maintain a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.3, yet this resource advantage has not translated into improved outcomes. For families, this means that while the school offers a small, close-knit environment, it faces a significant academic crisis that would require immediate and intensive intervention to address, particularly in math and science, and to reverse the downward trend in state rankings.
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