The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Math. The lowest is 43% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Southside Elementary
Southside Elementary sits on 2nd Street in Huntington, West Virginia, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Cabell County Schools. It is a regular public school with an enrollment that falls in a common range for a city elementary, with fairly even distribution across the early grades. The student body is majority white, with a meaningful Black enrollment and a notable share of students identified as two or more races. A small number of Asian and Hispanic students round out the population. Information on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, individualized education program rates, and English learner status was not available in the data we received, so we cannot characterize the school's poverty concentration or special-population composition. A parent may want to ask the school directly about those figures.
On the most recent West Virginia General Summative Assessment, the clearest pattern is a strong fourth grade. Fourth-grade math proficiency sits well above half of tested students, and fourth-grade ELA clears the halfway mark too. Third-grade math is solid, with just over half of students reaching proficiency. Third-grade ELA is softer, with fewer than half clearing the bar. The most difficult subject appears to be fifth-grade math, where proficiency drops below two-fifths of tested students. Fifth-grade ELA lands near the middle, with roughly half proficient. Science is tested only in fifth grade at this level, and the proficiency rate there sits below half. Participation was full or near-full across all tested grades. No multi-year trend data was available, so we cannot say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. The data sections on this page carry the specific figures.
Because Southside serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and no higher-grade course offerings such as AP or dual-credit pathways apply here. Program offerings, staffing ratios, attendance, and discipline data were not provided, so we cannot describe those dimensions. The district brief for Cabell County Schools did not surface any recently reported parent-relevant changes such as curriculum shifts, referendums, or property-tax adjustments.
Huntington itself is a mid-sized river city at the confluence of the Ohio and Guyandotte rivers, serving as the county seat of Cabell County. Publicly reported sources describe it as a regional hub for transportation, healthcare, and higher education. The city was founded as the western terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and built as one of the nation's first planned communities around rail and river industries. After its coal, steel, and chemical manufacturing base collapsed following World War II, the city lost a large portion of its population and continues to experience modest decline. Today the economy leans on Marshall University and its affiliated health network, Cabell Huntington Hospital, CSX Transportation, and the Port of Huntington Tri-State, which ranks among the busiest inland ports in the country. Ritter Park, recognized by the American Planning Association as one of America's great public spaces, anchors a walkable residential corridor, and Pullman Square serves as a downtown mixed-use focal point. The city has produced a Housing Needs Assessment and a revitalization plan, signaling active planning around neighborhood reinvestment and population retention.
Housing in Southside's zip code is affordable by both state and national standards. Home values sit below the West Virginia state benchmark and well below the national one, and rents are similarly moderate. Year-over-year, both home values and rents have been rising at a pace that outstrips state and national appreciation rates, which may reflect local demand pressures or broader inflation in shelter costs. The estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home in this zip code remains modest, and rent relative to income appears manageable. For a family weighing a move into the Southside attendance zone, housing costs would likely be less of a barrier here than in most of the country.
The school does not have a neighbor comparison fact-set in the provided data, so we cannot position its academic results against other Cabell County elementaries. What the data does show is a school with a mixed academic profile: a standout fourth grade, a reasonably strong third grade in math, and a fifth grade where math proficiency is a soft spot. A parent looking into Southside would do well to ask how the school supports students as they move from fourth into fifth, and what interventions are in place for math in particular.
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