The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in Math. The lowest is 9% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Cameron Elementary School
Cameron Elementary School sits on Church Street in the heart of Cameron, a very small Appalachian town in Marshall County, part of the Wheeling metropolitan area. The town grew up around the railroad and still has a historic Main Street commercial district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with a city pool, a library, and parks that serve as civic anchors. Publicly reported sources describe a community in long, slow population decline, with no major new housing or commercial development on the horizon. For families thinking about the school in the context of the town, the setting is quiet, compact, and car-dependent, with modest single-family housing and limited local employment beyond what the broader metro area offers.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and has an enrollment that is modest for its grade band. The student body is almost entirely white, reflecting the broader demographics of the town itself. No free-or-reduced-price lunch data, English learner counts, or special education rates were available in the provided data, so the economic and special-population profile of the school cannot be characterized here. Title I status was also not reported. A parent wanting to understand the school's resource levels and student support services may want to ask the school directly about these areas.
State assessment results from the most recent year are available for grades three through five, and the picture they paint is uneven. Fourth grade stands out as a strong point, with a large majority of students reaching proficiency in both math and English language arts. That is a genuinely encouraging result and suggests the school's instruction can produce high achievement when things come together. Third grade tells a different story, with well under half of students proficient in math and only a small fraction proficient in English language arts. Fifth grade is also a soft spot, with fewer than a third of students proficient in math and roughly a third proficient in English language arts. Fifth-grade science proficiency was very low, with only a handful of students meeting the bar. Participation was full or near-full across all tested grades, so the results reflect the enrolled population rather than a testing gap.
This wide variation from one grade to the next makes it hard to read a single overall trajectory from the data. It could reflect cohort differences, changes in instruction or staffing, or other factors the assessment numbers alone cannot explain. With only one year of results available, there is no trend to examine. A parent comparing this school to others in Marshall County would want to look into how the school supports students who arrive below grade level, what interventions exist between third and fourth grade, and what happens to readiness as students prepare to leave for middle school.
The housing market around Cameron is one of the most affordable in the state and well below national levels. Typical home values are a fraction of the national benchmark, and the price-to-income ratio suggests that owning a home here is within reach for many working households compared to most of the country. Rent data was not available. For families already in or near Cameron, the cost of living is low. The tradeoff is that the town is contracting, with limited commercial activity and few publicly identified major employers.
Cameron Elementary is a small, community-rooted school in a quiet rural town, with one grade level showing real academic strength and others showing results that warrant attention. The data gaps in student demographics, program offerings, staffing, and disciplinary environment are substantial enough that a family considering this school should treat a direct conversation with the principal or district as a next step rather than relying on the state report alone.
See more original research from School Decision →