Summary:
Zip code 26354, covering the Grafton, West Virginia area, is home to just one middle school, Taylor County Middle School, which serves grades 5 through 8 with 640 students.
Taylor County Middle School has seen a dramatic decline in its state ranking over the past three years, falling from the 60th percentile (3 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 23rd percentile (1 star) in 2024-2025, before recovering slightly to the 29th percentile (1 star) in 2025-2026. Academically, the school trails state averages in nearly every subject, with the largest gaps in English Language Arts (35.8% proficiency vs. 47.6% statewide) and Mathematics (33.1% vs. 39.4%). Science is the relative bright spot, with a smaller deficit of just 3 percentage points. The most striking anomaly is 6th grade, where students actually outperform the state in math (41.0% vs. 35.4%) and match the state in ELA (47.5% vs. 47.4%). However, 7th grade ELA proficiency is a staggering 18.1 points below the state average, and math proficiency declines steadily from 6th grade (41.0%) to 8th grade (25.5%).
With a student-teacher ratio of 13:1, class sizes are not the primary issue, suggesting challenges may lie in curriculum alignment or instructional quality. The school operates within Taylor County Schools, which ranks 40th out of 54 districts in West Virginia. Since this is the only middle school in the district, its performance directly shapes the district's overall rating. Per-student spending of $11,037 (2018-2019 data) has not translated into above-average outcomes. The sharp ranking drop between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 points to a significant disruption, though the modest improvement in 2025-2026 may signal the beginning of stabilization. For parents, this school offers pockets of success in 6th grade but overall struggles with achievement in the upper grades, particularly in ELA and math.
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