The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Math. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Alban Elementary School
Alban Elementary School sits on Harrison Avenue in Saint Albans, a small historic river city in Kanawha County and part of the greater Charleston metropolitan area. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Kanawha County Schools, one of the larger districts in the state. Saint Albans developed at the confluence of the Kanawha and Coal Rivers, with a commercial strip along MacCorkle Avenue and residential neighborhoods spreading outward. Schools here are distributed across those neighborhoods rather than clustered downtown, and Alban is one of several elementary schools feeding into the area's middle and high schools.
The school's enrollment is modest for its grade band. Its student body is predominantly white, with small Black and multiracial populations and a handful of Hispanic students. Economic indicators like free and reduced-price lunch rates were not reported in the available data, so the socioeconomic picture is incomplete. Special population figures, including students with individualized education programs and English learners, were also missing. A parent evaluating peer environment and support services may want to ask the school directly about these areas.
On the most recent West Virginia General Summative Assessment, covering the 2024-25 school year, proficiency results were reported for grades three through five. In math, roughly two-fifths of third and fourth graders reached proficiency, while fifth grade results were lower, with fewer than a third proficient. English language arts followed a similar pattern in the lower grades but improved in fifth grade, where proficiency was higher than in third or fourth. Science was assessed only in fifth grade, and fewer than a third of those students were proficient. Participation was full or near-full across all tested grades. No trend data across multiple years was available, so it is hard to say whether these results represent a stable pattern or a year-to-year fluctuation. Grades six through eight show no results, which is expected since Alban does not serve those grades. Average scale scores were not reported, limiting a finer-grained read of where students cluster within or below proficiency.
The broader community context matters for families considering the area. Publicly reported data describes Saint Albans as a quiet river town with a historic downtown, seven city parks, flatwater trail access, and an active arts center. At the same time, the city has been losing population, and no major new housing or commercial development projects surfaced in available research. Major highways bisect the city, and the built environment outside the downtown core is auto-oriented. Public bus service connects Saint Albans to surrounding communities through the regional transit authority.
Housing in the school's zip code is inexpensive by both state and national standards. Home values sit well below the state benchmark and far below the national figure, and recent year-over-year values edged downward. Estimated monthly mortgage costs are modest, and the rent-to-income ratio suggests renting remains relatively affordable compared with ownership costs. For families, this means entry-level housing is accessible, though the declining market context is worth keeping in mind.
Several data gaps limit a fuller picture. No discipline, course access, staffing, or attendance information was available. Program offerings were not reported, so it is unclear what enrichment, intervention, or extracurricular options the school provides beyond the standard elementary curriculum. No neighbor comparison data was available to position Alban against nearby schools in the county. The district brief returned no notable recent changes, so there is little to report on levy votes, facility plans, or curriculum shifts that might affect families in the near term.
What the available evidence does say is that Alban is a small, neighborhood elementary school in an affordable, historically rooted river town, with state test results that hover in a middling to lower range across tested grades. Families drawn to a quieter community setting and lower housing costs may find it worth visiting the school and asking about academic support, enrichment offerings, and special populations data that the public record does not yet capture.
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