The top reported proficiency rate is 66% in Math. The lowest is 42% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Andrews Heights Elementary School
Andrews Heights Elementary School sits along Coal River Road in Tornado, West Virginia, a residential community also known as Upper Falls that stretches along the Coal River in the Charleston metropolitan area. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of Kanawha County Schools. Its name ties directly to the surrounding community; the Andrews Heights area was named for landowner R. Carl Andrews, and the school carries that local identity. Tornado has no traditional downtown core. Homes, civic institutions, and the school itself are spread through the river valley along a rural road network, giving the area a quiet suburban-rural character rather than a town-center feel.
The community's history is rooted in the mid-twentieth century, when an influx of workers arrived to take jobs in the defense and chemical manufacturing industries of the broader Kanawha Valley. Publicly reported sources note that most residents have historically commuted out of Tornado for work, and that pattern appears to continue today. No major employers are based within the community itself. A CSX Transportation rail line runs through the area, primarily moving coal to market, and the Coal River remains the community's central geographic and recreational feature, with Upper Falls Landing providing river access and Big Bend Golf Course serving as a recreational anchor in the Big Bend area.
Academically, Andrews Heights shows a clear pattern in its state assessment results. Math proficiency rises steadily from third grade through fifth grade, with the older grades performing particularly well. By fourth and fifth grade, well over half of tested students reach proficiency in math, and the fifth-grade rate is the strongest of the three. English language arts follows a similar upward trajectory, though starting from a lower point in third grade and landing at a more moderate level by fifth grade. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a comparatively lower proficiency rate, with fewer than half of tested students reaching the proficient level. A parent with a child moving through the upper elementary grades here may find the math results encouraging, while the science results may be worth looking into further with the school. Participation was full across all tested grades, which gives the results a solid foundation.
The school is small for its grade band, and its student body is nearly entirely white, with only a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Several pieces of information that parents often look for were not available in the data we received. Free and reduced-price lunch counts were missing, so we cannot characterize the economic makeup of the student body from the provided records. Special education and English learner rates were also missing. Title I status was not reported, and no magnet designation was listed. Discipline data, staffing figures, attendance rates, and course or program offerings were absent as well. We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in Kanawha County Schools, such as levy votes, curriculum shifts, or consolidations, and found little that met a lasting-impact threshold, so we left that out rather than guess.
Housing in the school's ZIP code is affordable by both state and national standards. Home values sit below the West Virginia statewide benchmark and well below the national level, and recent figures show a modest year-over-year decline. Estimated monthly ownership costs are low relative to income, which may appeal to families looking to buy rather than rent. Rental data was not available for this area, so we cannot compare renting and owning here from the provided figures.
What emerges is a picture of a small, community-rooted elementary school in a quiet river-valley suburb, serving a fairly homogeneous student body, with solid and improving math performance through the upper elementary grades, moderate reading results, and a science outcome that lags behind the others. Families drawn to a low-density residential setting with affordable homeownership and a short commute to Charleston may find the location fits their life. Those wanting a fuller read on the school's support programs, staffing, and economic demographics will need to go directly to the school or district, since the provided data leaves those dimensions open.
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