The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in Math. The lowest is 76% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Criss Elementary School
Criss Elementary School sits on Twenty-Second Street in Parkersburg, the county seat of Wood County and the hub of the Parkersburg-Vienna metropolitan area. The city rests at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, with the Little Kanawha splitting the north and south sides. Parkersburg built its identity as an Ohio Valley industrial center, producing chemicals, glass, tools, textiles, plastics, iron, and steel through the postwar era. That industrial dominance has waned, and the city's population has been in slow decline for years. The federal Bureau of the Fiscal Service remains a anchor employer, and the city retains civic institutions, museums, and a defined downtown core visible from Fort Boreman Historical Park. The built environment is car-oriented, served by Interstate 77 and US 50 along with several state routes. Publicly reported sources note no major new housing developments or growth initiatives on the horizon.
Criss is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, part of Wood County Schools. The district spans Parkersburg and surrounding communities including Blennerhassett, Lubeck, Washington, and Mineral Wells. We searched for recent district-level changes such as levy or bond elections, curriculum shifts, construction projects, or policy moves and found little of lasting impact, so we left that out rather than guess. The school itself is modest in size for its grade band, with roughly even distribution across the early grades and a somewhat larger fourth-grade cohort.
State testing covers grades three through five, and Criss posts strong results across the board. In math, third graders perform at a high level, fourth graders dip to a solid but lower rate, and fifth graders recover to a strong showing. English language arts follows a similar arc, with third and fourth graders at solid levels and fifth graders reaching the school's highest proficiency mark. Fifth-grade science is also strong. The fourth-grade math result stands out as the relative soft spot. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, though the dip is modest and the overall picture across grades and subjects is one of consistent, above-average performance. Participation rates are high, with full participation in third grade and near-full in the upper grades. No multi-year trend data was available, so we cannot say whether these results are improving, holding steady, or recent gains. Grades six through eight show no results because Criss does not serve those grades, and the same applies to the missing eighth-grade science figure.
The student body is predominantly white, with small representations of Hispanic, multiracial, Black, and Asian students. Economic need data through free or reduced-price lunch counts was not reported, so we cannot characterize the share of students facing economic disadvantage. Special population data, including students with individualized education programs and English learners, was also missing. Title I status was not available. Without these figures, the picture of student support needs remains incomplete, and a family whose child receives special education or English learner services would want to ask the school directly about what is available.
The housing market around the school is affordable by both state and national standards. Home values in the school's zip code sit well below the West Virginia state benchmark and far below the national figure, and they have been declining modestly over the past year. Rents are low relative to income. The price-to-income ratio is favorable, meaning a family earning a typical income could buy a home in the area without the cost burden common in many parts of the country. Mortgage payments would run somewhat higher than rents, but both remain within reach for moderate-income households. For a family weighing a move to the area, this is a market where ownership is realistic, though the declining home values mean buyers should be comfortable with limited near-term appreciation.
What Criss offers is a small, community-rooted elementary school with consistently strong academic results in its tested grades, set in an affordable river city navigating a long demographic decline. The missing economic and special-population data limits the picture, but the academic evidence points to a school where most students are reaching proficiency in math, reading, and science. Families looking for a quiet, affordable place with solid elementary academics would find Criss worth a close look. Those who want to understand support services, gifted programming, or special education offerings will need to go directly to the school, because the available data does not speak to those areas.
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