Summary:
Zip code 26537, serving the Kingwood, WV area, is home to just one elementary school, Kingwood Elementary, which enrolls 383 students in grades PK through 4 within the Preston County Schools district.
For parents, the standout story here is Kingwood Elementary’s exceptional performance in mathematics. The school’s overall math proficiency rate of 53.6% is a remarkable 17.7 percentage points higher than the district average and 14.2 points above the state average. This strength is especially evident in 3rd grade, where 63.6% of students are proficient in math, far outpacing both district and state peers. The school also showed dramatic momentum, jumping from the 38th percentile in state rankings during the 2024-2025 school year to the 60th percentile in 2025-2026, and improving its star rating from 2 to 3 stars. English Language Arts (ELA) performance is solid, with 50.4% proficiency, which is 7 points above the district and nearly 3 points above the state, though it is less exceptional than math.
One area that warrants attention is the significant drop-off in math scores between 3rd and 4th grade. While 3rd graders excel at 63.6% proficiency, 4th graders fall to just 45.7%, which is actually below the state average for that grade. This 17.9-point gap suggests that either the current 3rd grade cohort is exceptionally strong or that the transition to more complex 4th grade concepts presents a challenge. With a favorable 15:1 student-teacher ratio and per-student spending of $11,218, the school has solid resources. Given that Preston County Schools ranks in the bottom half of West Virginia districts, Kingwood Elementary stands out as a clear bright spot, particularly in math, while the 4th grade math decline represents the key opportunity for improvement.
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