The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in English language arts. The lowest is 32% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Westwood Middle School
Westwood Middle School sits on River Road in Morgantown, a college town anchored by West Virginia University and serving as the medical, cultural, and commercial hub of north-central West Virginia. The school is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight, part of Monongalia County Schools. Its enrollment is modest for a middle school, with the largest cohort in seventh grade.
The student body is predominantly white, with a small share of students identifying as two or more races and very small numbers of Hispanic, Black, and Asian students. The school does not report free or reduced-price lunch counts, special education enrollment, or English learner figures, so a parent looking for information about economic diversity or special populations would need to ask the school directly. Title I status was also not available in the data provided.
On the West Virginia General Summative Assessment, the school's results tell a mixed story. In math, sixth-grade proficiency is low, with fewer than a quarter of tested students meeting the proficiency bar. By seventh and eighth grade, the share of students scoring proficient rises to a more middling level, suggesting some improvement as students move through the building. English language arts follows a similar arc, with sixth grade lagging and seventh grade reaching a higher point before dipping slightly in eighth grade. Eighth-grade science proficiency sits at a lower level, with roughly a third of students demonstrating proficiency. Full participation across all tested grades and subjects is a positive sign, meaning these results reflect the whole student body rather than a partial sample. Average scale scores were not available, and only one year of assessment data is present, so there is no trend to describe. A parent may want to look into how the school supports students who enter sixth grade performing below grade level, since the sixth-grade numbers are the softest spot in the academic picture.
Because Westwood serves only grades six through eight, there are no state assessment results for grades three through five, and no fifth-grade science score, since those grades are not part of this school. There is no graduation rate, for the same reason. These gaps reflect the grade band the school serves rather than any missing reporting.
Morgantown itself is one of the fastest-growing areas in West Virginia, with consistently low unemployment and an economy driven largely by education and healthcare, anchored by the university and its Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. Other major employers include the National Energy Technology Laboratory and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The city has a mix of dense older neighborhoods near downtown and WVU, such as First Ward, Woodburn, South Park, and Greenmont, and more sprawling residential and commercial development further out, including Suncrest and Evansdale. The Wharf District along the Monongahela River has been revitalized with restaurants, a hotel and event center, and access to an extensive paved trail system. The city's Personal Rapid Transit system connects WVU's dispersed campuses, and Mountain Line Transit Authority provides bus service. Publicly reported sources describe Morgantown as a sprawling small city where townhouses, shopping centers, and office buildings have replaced acres of woods.
Housing in the school's zip code is more affordable than the national benchmark but runs above the statewide typical value for West Virginia. The estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home in the area is meaningfully higher than the typical rent, which may shape decisions for families deciding between buying and renting. Home values in the zip code showed a slight decline over the past year, while rents edged upward modestly. Rent relative to income remains in a manageable range for the area.
We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in Monongalia County Schools and found little of lasting impact reported, so there is no district-level initiative or restructuring to weigh here. Program offerings, course access, discipline data, staffing details, and attendance figures for Westwood were not available in the data provided, so a parent would want to ask the school directly about extracurriculars, advanced coursework, support services, and school climate. What the available picture shows is a mid-sized middle school in a growing, economically stable university town, with assessment results that improve as students progress through the grades but start from a low point in sixth grade. Families considering this school would benefit from visiting and asking specifically about how Westwood addresses the academic needs of incoming students and what enrichment or intervention structures exist to support growth across all three grade levels.
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