The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in English language arts. The lowest is 31% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Doddridge County Middle School
Doddridge County Middle School sits in West Union, the small county seat of Doddridge County, West Virginia. The school serves grades five through eight and operates as a regular public school within Doddridge County Schools. It is the kind of place where the school and civic life are woven together rather than separated, with the courthouse, library, and school all within the compact footprint of a town that has served as the county's center of government and education for generations.
West Union itself is rural and small, situated along Middle Island Creek at the junction of two highways. The town's economy historically relied on glass factories and a garment factory, all now closed, and has shifted toward county government, public education, farming, timbering, and oil and gas. Many residents commute to jobs in Salem, Clarksburg, or Parkersburg, so the town functions partly as a bedroom community for those larger employment centers. The North Bend Rail Trail passes through town along the former B&O Railway route, and two National Register historic districts give the community a sense of place. The population has been in long-term decline, and no major new housing developments or growth initiatives were identified in available sources. Housing here is quite affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks, with home values well below what a family would find in most of West Virginia and far below national figures.
The school's enrollment is modest for its grade band, with students spread across four grade levels in roughly even cohorts. The student body is nearly entirely white, with only a handful of students identifying with other racial or ethnic groups. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, and information on students with individualized education programs and English learners was also missing, so a parent looking to understand the economic and support landscape of the student population would want to ask the school directly.
State assessment results from the most recent school year paint a mixed picture. In math, proficiency is strongest in fifth grade, where nearly half of tested students met the proficiency bar, but it drops sharply in sixth and seventh grades and falls further by eighth grade, where only about one in five students demonstrated proficiency. This pattern of declining math performance as students move through the middle grades is a clear soft spot and something a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly if the trend reflects a curricular or instructional gap between grade levels. English language arts results are more consistent across grades, hovering in the mid-thirties range from sixth through eighth grade, with fifth grade slightly higher. Science, tested only in fifth and eighth grades, shows about a third of students reaching proficiency in both. Participation was full or nearly full across all tested grades and subjects.
No multi-year trend data was available beyond the current year for this school, so it is not possible to say from the provided data whether these results represent a recent change or a longer-standing pattern. The district brief did not surface any parent-relevant changes or initiatives that might contextualize these numbers.
Because this is a middle school serving grades five through eight, there is no graduation rate, and the school does not appear in any high school accountability framework. Information on course access, staffing, attendance, discipline, and Title I status was not available in the provided data, so those dimensions of the school environment could not be assessed here. A family evaluating this school would benefit from asking about available electives, intervention supports for math, and how the school addresses the drop in proficiency between fifth and eighth grade.
What the data does show is a small, rural middle school in an affordable, historically rooted community, with steady English language arts results and a math profile that weakens as students advance. Families drawn to small-town life, outdoor access via the rail trail and creek, and housing costs far below regional norms may find the setting appealing, and the school is part of that same tight-knit civic fabric. The academic question that deserves the most attention from the school is the middle-grade math decline, and the gaps in the available data mean a direct conversation with school staff would be the most productive next step.
See more original research from School Decision →