The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 18% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Washington Irving Middle School
Washington Irving Middle School sits on Lee Avenue in Clarksburg, the county seat of Harrison County, and serves grades six through eight as a regular public school in the Harrison County Schools district. The enrollment is moderate for a middle school, with the seventh grade being the largest cohort and the eighth grade the smallest. The student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and a slightly larger group identifying as two or more races. A handful of Black students and a single Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander student round out the population. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be characterized from the provided information. The same is true for special education and English learner counts, which were missing. Title I status was also not reported.
Clarksburg itself is a micropolitan anchor that has held its population roughly steady through the twenty-first century. The city's economy shifted from its manufacturing and glassmaking roots toward federal employment centered on the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services complex east of downtown, which is among the largest employers in north-central West Virginia. Healthcare and education round out the local economy. The downtown, known locally as Uptown Clarksburg, clusters civic life around City Hall, the Harrison County Courthouse, and the Clarksburg-Harrison Public Library, with historic districts like Glen Elk nearby. The city sits at the crossroads of U.S. Route 50 and Interstate 79, and air service is available a short drive away at North Central West Virginia Airport. Publicly reported cultural events include the West Virginia Italian Heritage Festival over Labor Day weekend, the West Virginia Black Heritage Festival in September, and the MTN Craft Film Festival, which began in 2023.
State assessment results from the most recent school year show a clear pattern. English language arts is the relative bright spot. Roughly two-fifths of sixth graders reached proficiency, with seventh and eighth graders not far behind. Those are modest results but place ELA ahead of the other subjects at this school. Mathematics is the weaker area. Sixth grade proficiency was quite low, and while seventh and eighth grade results were better, they still reflected a minority of students meeting the bar. Science proficiency among eighth graders was also low. Participation was generally strong across all tested grades and subjects, with nearly all students sitting for the exams. Average scale scores were not reported, so a deeper look at how students performed relative to the proficiency cutoff is not possible from the available data. No multi-year trend could be computed because only a single year of results was available. A parent weighing these results may want to ask the school what math intervention or support structures are in place, particularly for incoming sixth graders, given how low that entry-point proficiency figure is.
The housing market around the school is affordable by both state and national standards. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below the West Virginia statewide benchmark and far below the national figure, and values have been declining modestly year over year. Rents have ticked up slightly but remain low. Estimated monthly mortgage costs are modest, and rent-to-income ratios are light. For families considering a move to the area, housing costs are unlikely to be a barrier. The district brief did not surface any recent parent-relevant changes or initiatives, so there is little to report on that front.
No graduation rate applies here, since this is a middle school. The school does not serve elementary grades, so the missing third, fourth, and fifth grade assessment results reflect that grade band rather than a reporting gap. Information on course offerings, extracurricular programs, discipline, staffing, and attendance was not provided, so those dimensions of the school experience could not be assessed. A family evaluating Washington Irving would be looking at a school in an affordable, historically rooted community with a stable population and a federal-employment-anchored economy, and at academic results that show real room for growth, especially in mathematics.
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