The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Roanoke Elementary School
Roanoke Elementary School sits on Oil Creek Road in the tiny unincorporated community of Roanoke, in southern Lewis County, West Virginia. It is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, part of Lewis County Schools. The enrollment is small, as one would expect for a school drawing from a community where most of the original town site lies beneath Stonewall Jackson Lake. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers purchased and flooded the old village in the 1980s for flood control, and what remains is a very low-density rural area with no downtown, no walkable center, and limited commercial activity. The nearest towns of any size are Weston to the north and Buckhannon to the east-northeast. Stonewall Jackson Lake and the adjacent Stonewall Resort State Park dominate the surrounding landscape. Publicly reported information describes a lodge at the state park that houses a historical display about the former town.
The student body is nearly entirely white, with only a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was not reported, nor were counts for students with individualized education programs or English learners. These gaps mean a parent cannot assess the school's socioeconomic profile or special-population services from the available data alone and may want to ask the school directly.
State assessment results from the most recent school year show a mixed academic picture across the tested grades. Third and fourth graders performed at a solid level in both math and English language arts, with well over half of tested students reaching proficiency in most of those grade-subject combinations. Fourth-grade English language arts was the strongest result. Fifth grade tells a different story: proficiency rates in math, English language arts, and science all dropped off noticeably, with science being the weakest area. Every tested group had full participation where participation data was reported, which is a positive sign for the completeness of these results. Only one year of assessment data was available, so there is no trend to observe. A parent looking at these numbers may want to understand what drives the fifth-grade dip and how the school supports students in that transition year.
Because Roanoke Elementary does not serve grades six through eight, the state assessment rows for those grades show no results, which is expected for this grade band. There is no graduation rate to report. Average scale scores were missing across all tested grades, so the analysis rests entirely on proficiency rates. No data was available on course access, discipline, staffing ratios, or attendance. No information on specialized programs such as gifted, arts, or career exploration was provided. These absences limit the picture considerably.
At the district level, Lewis County voters approved renewal of the regular school levy in May 2024 by a wide margin. The levy funds transportation, professional staff salaries, extracurricular programming, technology, and facilities maintenance. Because it was a renewal rather than a new tax, residents' rates did not change, but the passage secures ongoing support for services families rely on. No other district-level changes or strategic priorities were identified in the available information.
Housing in the area is inexpensive relative to both state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the West Virginia statewide figure and far below the national mark. Recent values have been declining modestly year over year. No rental data was available for the immediate area. The price-to-income ratio sits below the national level, suggesting that for local wage earners, ownership is relatively attainable compared with many parts of the country, though the limited local economy and sparse housing market may constrain options.
No neighbor comparison data was provided, so Roanoke Elementary cannot be positioned against nearby schools in the county from the information on this page. A family considering this school would be choosing a very small, rural elementary program in a community shaped by its unusual history, with respectable early-grade results but a clear drop in fifth grade that warrants further conversation with the school.
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