The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in English language arts. The lowest is 22% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on West Preston School
West Preston School sits in Arthurdale, a small unincorporated community in Preston County with a deep historical identity. Publicly reported sources describe Arthurdale as the nation's first New Deal homestead community, built during the Great Depression as a planned settlement for struggling families on small subsistence-farming plots. Many of the original homesteads still stand, and a multi-building museum complex preserves that heritage. The everyday texture is quiet and rural, with homestead-era homes still in use along the local routes. For a family considering this school, the setting is one where history is visible on the streets and the pace of life is slow.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which means a child can spend their entire elementary and middle-school career in one building before transitioning to a county high school elsewhere. Enrollment is moderate for a rural West Virginia school, with students spread fairly evenly across the grade bands. The student body is nearly entirely white, with only a handful of students identifying as multiracial or Hispanic. Whether that homogeneity is a comfort or a limitation depends on what a family wants from a peer environment. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch counts, special-education rates, or English-learner figures in the data we received, so we cannot characterize the economic profile of the student body or the level of specialized support services from these records.
State assessment results from the most recent year tell a mixed and, in some grades, concerning story. In English language arts, the middle grades are the strongest. Sixth grade stands out, with nearly half of tested students reaching proficiency, and fourth grade is also respectable. Third, fifth, seventh, and eighth grades sit lower, with the eighth-grade result particularly weak. In math, the pattern is uneven. Third and fifth grades show a moderate share of students reaching proficiency, while fourth, seventh, and especially eighth grade trail well behind, with the eighth-grade math result being among the weakest in the building. Science is tested only in fifth and eighth grades, and both results are low, with eighth grade again especially so. Participation is strong across every grade and subject, so these results reflect nearly the full student body rather than a skewed subset.
A parent looking at these results may want to ask the school what is happening between the earlier grades and eighth grade, where proficiency drops sharply in math, science, and English language arts. The data we received covers only a single year, so there is no trend information to show whether this is a persistent pattern or a one-year dip tied to a particular cohort. The school may have context that the state numbers alone do not capture.
Because West Preston ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. That metric simply does not apply to this school. There is also no information in the data about advanced course offerings, career pathways, arts programs, or extracurriculars, so we cannot speak to what the academic program looks like beyond the tested subjects. A family would need to contact the school directly for that picture.
On the housing side, the Arthurdale area is very affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit well below the West Virginia median and far below the national median, and the estimated monthly mortgage cost on a typical home is modest. That affordability shapes who can move here and stay here. For a family with school-age children, the low cost of entry is a real draw, though the rural setting and limited local amenities come with the territory.
At the district level, Preston County Schools recently added the Rowlesburg Opportunity Center, a new school established in the district. Publicly reported information is limited beyond that fact, but families in the Rowlesburg area may see changes in school assignments or educational options as a result. Whether this affects West Preston families directly is unclear from the available information.
What West Preston offers is a small, continuous pre-K-through-eighth-grade pathway in a historically rich rural community where housing is within reach for many families. The academic results are uneven, with some grades performing at a respectable level and others, especially the upper grades, lagging. A parent weighing this school should go in with eyes open about those results and ask directly what the school is doing to strengthen instruction in the later grades.
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