The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in Math. The lowest is 13% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Windy Ridge Elementary School
Windy Ridge Elementary School sits along Pancione Loop in Augusta, a rural crossroads community in Hampshire County, West Virginia. The school opened in December 2024 as one of three new consolidated elementary buildings Hampshire County Schools launched over a three-month span. Windy Ridge replaced Augusta Elementary, so families who previously sent children to the older building now attend here. The consolidation restructured elementary attendance across the district, and this is the first year state testing data reflects the new school.
Augusta itself is an unincorporated community along U.S. Route 50, roughly five miles east of the county seat in Romney. The area has long been tied to farming and timber, and it retains a quiet, low-density character with scattered residences and agricultural land rather than a walkable downtown. Public transportation is minimal and residents rely on cars. The Hampshire County Health Department is located here, and French's Mill, a historic grist mill listed on the National Register of Historic Places, serves as a community gathering spot with occasional events and a thrift store. The nearby George Washington National Forest offers outdoor recreation. Growth has been slow, with no major housing developments documented. The housing market in the surrounding ZIP code sits well above the state benchmark but below the national one, with a price-to-income ratio near three and current mortgage rates adding cost pressure for buyers. Rent data was not available for this area.
On the academic side, Windy Ridge has state assessment results for its earliest tested grades. Math tells a mixed story. Third-grade math proficiency starts at a strong level, with a clear majority of students meeting the state standard and full participation. By fourth grade, that share drops substantially, and by fifth grade it falls further to a point where fewer than a quarter of tested students demonstrate proficiency. This downward pattern across the grade bands is a clear soft spot, and a parent may want to look into how the school supports math instruction as students move from the primary to upper elementary grades.
English language arts results are more stable across the three tested grades but hover at a lower level than the third-grade math peak. Roughly two-fifths of third graders reach proficiency, and the rate slips only modestly in fourth and fifth grades. The relative consistency suggests ELA instruction holds ground even as math slides. Fifth-grade science proficiency is low, with only a small fraction of students meeting the standard, though participation was strong at nearly full attendance.
State testing data was not available for grades six through eight. Because Windy Ridge is an elementary school, those grades are likely not served here, which would explain the gap rather than signal a missing result. A parent with questions about the upper grade band can confirm the school's grade span directly with Hampshire County Schools.
Enrollment counts, demographic breakdowns, free and reduced-price lunch rates, English learner figures, and special education populations were all missing from the available data. Civil rights data, discipline records, course access details, staffing numbers, and attendance figures were also absent. The school is classified as a regular public school with no charter or magnet status, and Title I status was not reported. Program offerings were not listed. With the school having opened only months before this assessment window, some of these gaps may reflect how new the building is and how recently it absorbed students from the former Augusta Elementary.
The housing context matters for families considering the area. Median household income at the national level has been climbing, and unemployment has held steady at a low level. Locally, home values in the Augusta ZIP code run higher than much of West Virginia but remain below national figures, which may appeal to families looking for a rural setting without the price tag of a metro market. The tradeoff is the limited commercial infrastructure and distance from concentrated services, with Romney providing the nearest cluster of civic and retail functions.
For a family evaluating Windy Ridge, the picture is that of a brand-new consolidated elementary school in a small, agricultural community, with solid early-grade math results that weaken as students progress, steady but modest ELA outcomes, and a science result that sits well below where most families would want it. The school is too new to have trend data, and much of the contextual information families often rely on was not yet available. The most productive next step would be contacting the school or Hampshire County Schools directly to ask about math support across grade levels, science instruction, and the transition from the former Augusta Elementary.
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