W. Va. Code R. agency 127, tit. 127, ser. 127-03, app 1
This considers the following factors: enrollment, location and economics. These factors are given individual scores, which are then given a weighted aggregate total. All individual scores (scores for enrollment, location and economics) are normalized using maximum-minimum normalization using feature scaling, wherein their values fall between 0-1. Individual scores are calculated in the following ways:
* The enrollment score takes enrollment data and normalizes it on a scale from 0-1.
* The location score is calculated by finding the distance from the school to the closest city with a population of 10,000 or more, then normalized between 0-1.
* The economic score is determined by first calculating a county score where the z-score of the county's median household income is added to the z-score of the county's poverty rate and the sum is normalized between 0-1.
* For all schools located within single high school counties, the county economic score serves as the school economic score.
* For all schools located within multi-high school counties, Direct Certified numbers on students eligible for free or reduced lunch are used to scale the county economic score. The scaling is accomplished by comparing the Direct Certified numbers of each individual school with the county average.
Weights are applied to each score that are determined based on qualitative assessment by the WVSSAC Competition Balance Committee. All county data (population, median household income, and poverty rate) are from the most recent US Census American Community Survey's Five Year Estimates and the distances are determined using Google Maps.
W. Va. Code R. agency 127, tit. 127, ser. 127-03, app 1