Schools in Zip Code 26743

Zip code 26743 is home to a single educational institution, New Creek Primary School, a small, rural elementary school serving 94 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 4th grade within the Mineral County Schools district.

For parents considering this area, the most critical takeaway is that New Creek Primary School is experiencing a severe and rapid academic decline. The school's state ranking has collapsed from the 34th percentile in 2024-2025 to the bottom 3% of all West Virginia elementary schools in 2025-2026, a drop of 110 places in a single year. This places it at 344th out of 355 schools statewide, earning a 0-star rating. Within its own district, it ranks 38th out of 54 schools, making it a significant outlier performing far worse than the district average. Academically, the school shows critical weaknesses, particularly in English Language Arts, where only 27.3% of students are proficient compared to the state average of 47.6%. Math proficiency is also below state levels at 36.4% versus 39.4%.

A particularly concerning pattern emerges when comparing grade levels. While 3rd graders perform near the state average in math (47.4% vs. 54.4%), 4th graders experience a dramatic "cliff," with only 21.4% proficient in math compared to the state's 49.2%. ELA proficiency is consistently low across both grades, hovering around 26-29% versus state averages near 45-50%. What makes this situation especially puzzling is the school's resource advantage: it maintains an excellent student-to-teacher ratio of 10.3 and spends over $12,000 per student. Despite these favorable conditions, the school is producing bottom-tier results, suggesting the challenges may stem from instructional effectiveness, curriculum alignment, or external factors like student mobility or attendance issues rather than a lack of funding or staffing. Parents should investigate these trends directly with the school and district leadership.