Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Buford Middle
School pathway
Test scores
SOL 2024-25 . % PassingWhat this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 63 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 58 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Virginia schools, those numbers are about 74 and 73. Reading and writing scores are up about 2 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 1 points.
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyWhat this means: About 61% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 68% typical for Virginia schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Virginia's top nor bottom 10%.
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25About Buford Middle
As a cozy middle-grades school in Charlottesville, Virginia, Buford Middle caters to 563 students from grades 7 through 8, operated by Charlottesville City Public Schools. Compared to the state average of about 750 students per school, that is 25% smaller than typical.
Charlottesville City Public Schools runs 9 schools in total, collectively educating 4,439 students. Buford Middle is one of those campuses.
Looking at the student body, Buford Middle reports that the largest single group is White at 36%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 26% Black, 15% Hispanic, 15% multiracial, 8% Asian. By comparison, Charlottesville city as a whole is about 67% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.
Looking at the economic backdrop, Buford Middle logs 69 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 8.1:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.1:1, putting Buford Middle tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 74% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.
On a demographically-adjusted basis, Buford Middle tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 67.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 61.4%.
In the broader community, census data for Charlottesville city shows the typical household earns roughly $74,824 per year, roughly 63% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Charlottesville city runs 15 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,150 students), of which Buford Middle is one.
Johnson Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.6 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Buford Middle. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Buford Middle at 7th of 9; the average score across the group is 69.1%.
Buford Middle operates from an inner-city location.
Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged up 7%: 525 students in 2018 compared to 563 in 2025. Black enrollment moved from 38% to 26% across the same window. Class-load math has fell: from 11.6:1 in 2018 to 8.1:1 in 2025.
Inside the community feed, posts here usually surface around fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Charlottesville city at a glance
View full county profileQuick facts
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