The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in English language arts. The lowest is 24% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Norwood Elementary School
Norwood Elementary School, located on Kidd Avenue in Stonewood, West Virginia, is no longer in operation. The school served students in the Harrison County Schools district and was classified as a regular public school. Because it has closed, the information below reflects the last available reporting period, which covers state assessment results from the school year ending in spring. Enrollment figures, demographic breakdowns, and free-or-reduced-price lunch data were not available in the records we reviewed, so we cannot describe the student body in those terms.
What we do have is a final academic picture. In math, third graders reached proficiency at roughly the midpoint, fourth graders came in somewhat lower, and fifth graders fell well below that level, with only a small fraction demonstrating grade-level command of the subject. English language arts followed a similar pattern, with fourth graders performing best at about half proficient, third graders somewhat behind that, and fifth graders lower still. Science was tested only in fifth grade, and the proficiency rate there was quite low, with only about a quarter of tested students meeting the standard. Grades six through eight show no results, which likely reflects the school's grade configuration rather than a data gap; an elementary school serving through fifth grade would not produce those upper-grade scores. Participation rates were strong across the tested grades, so the results are not undermined by absenteeism from the assessment itself.
The trend data needed to say whether these results were improving or declining over time was not available, so we cannot place this single year in context. A parent looking at these numbers would see a school where younger students were holding their own but where performance dropped off sharply by fifth grade, particularly in math and science. Whether that reflects a cohort issue, staffing changes, or broader instructional challenges is something the records do not tell us, and the school's closure means those questions may no longer have a direct audience to address them.
The community Norwood Elementary served is a quiet one. Stonewood sits along Elk Creek in the Monongahela Valley region of northern West Virginia, a short drive southeast of Clarksburg. The city was formed by combining two earlier communities, Stonewall and Norwood, and the school carried the name of one of them. It is a compact, primarily residential place with modest housing, no distinct commercial corridor, and a population that has been gradually shrinking since the mid-twentieth century. The housing market here is well below both state and national benchmarks, with home values declining modestly in recent months while rents have edged upward. For a working-class community of this size, housing is relatively affordable, though economic opportunity within the city limits appears limited and residents likely commute to nearby Clarksburg or Nutter Fort for work.
Because the school is closed, families in this area would now be served by other schools within Harrison County Schools. We searched for information about district-level changes that might explain the closure or signal what families can expect going forward, but found little of lasting impact in the available sources. The district brief did not surface strategic priorities, consolidation plans, or program shifts that would help fill in the picture. A parent or resident trying to understand where Norwood Elementary's former students now attend, and how those receiving schools perform, would need to go directly to Harrison County Schools for that information. The data we have ends with the school's last tested year and the community it once served.
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