The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in English language arts. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Hodgesville Elementary
Hodgesville Elementary sits on Teter Road in Buckhannon, the county seat of Upshur County, West Virginia. It is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, part of the Upshur County Schools district. The school draws from a community where rural Appalachian character meets the civic and commercial life of a small county seat. Buckhannon's downtown runs along Main Street, anchored by City Hall and the Classical Revival courthouse, with Jawbone Park serving as a community gathering space. West Virginia Wesleyan College, a private liberal arts institution, adds a college-town dimension. The annual West Virginia Strawberry Festival in May brings concentrated street life and visitors. Major employers include St. Joseph's Hospital, the college, the county board of education, and a wood products manufacturer. The town sits along Corridor H, with Interstate 79 a short drive west. Publicly reported census data describes a modest population decline over recent years, consistent with broader trends in small Appalachian county-seat towns, with no major new housing developments surfacing in available sources.
The school itself is small for its grade band. Its enrollment is predominantly white, with a handful of students identifying as Hispanic, Asian, or multiracial. Free and reduced-price lunch data was not available, so the economic profile of the student body cannot be characterized from the information provided. Individualized education program rates and English learner counts were also missing. Title I status was not reported.
State assessment results come from the West Virginia General Summative Assessment for the most recent school year. In math, proficiency was in the mid-twenties percentile range for third and fourth grade and lower for fifth grade. English language arts showed a similar pattern, with third grade the strongest, fourth grade in between, and fifth grade matching the lower fifth-grade math result. Fifth-grade science proficiency was also low. Participation was strong across all tested grades and subjects. Average scale scores were not reported. The tested groups are small, which means results can shift noticeably from year to year based on the composition of a single grade cohort. No multi-year trend data is available because only one year of results is on record. A parent weighing these results may want to ask the school how it is approaching math and reading instruction, particularly in the upper elementary grades where proficiency dips.
The school does not serve grades six through eight, so assessment data for those grades is absent because those students are tested at other schools. There is no graduation rate, which is expected for an elementary school. No comparison fact-set was available to position Hodgesville among neighboring schools or within the county.
Housing in the school's zip code is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks. The typical home value sits below the state figure and well below the national figure, and the price-to-income ratio suggests relative affordability for the area. Rent data was not available. The local housing market has seen modest year-over-year appreciation. Mortgage rates tracked in the broader economic context remain elevated by recent historical standards.
Several categories of information that parents often look for were absent from the available data. No program offerings, course access details, staffing figures, attendance rates, or discipline data were provided. The district brief for Upshur County Schools did not surface any parent-relevant changes in recent years. Civil rights data was not included. These gaps mean the picture here is built mainly from enrollment, demographics, state test results, and the surrounding community context. Families considering Hodgesville would benefit from asking the school directly about academic support strategies, enrichment opportunities, and how the small cohort sizes shape classroom experience from year to year.
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