West Pennyroyal News

There were 702 preschool students enrolled in Barren County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 2.5% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Highland Elementary School welcomed most of the preschool students in the county, registering 127 students.

Within Barren County schools, the highest student population was found in ninth grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in fifth grade.

Statewide, Barren County ranked 18th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 18th the year before.

Despite escaping some of the pandemic's educational disruptions, Kentucky's achievement gaps have remained an issue since 2019. In the eighth-grade reading assessments, for example, Hispanic students scored eight points lower than their white peers, and the gap reached 15 points in math. Black students fared even worse, falling more than 20 points behind and facing a failure rate nearly double that of their white counterparts.

School	# of Preschool Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Highland Elementary School	127	15.6%	816
Red Cross Elementary School	123	16.3%	753
South Green Elementary School	90	15.1%	595
North Jackson Elementary School	68	11.7%	583
Caverna Elementary School	62	17.5%	354
Eastern Elementary School	49	13%	378
Hiseville Elementary School	49	15.2%	322
Park City Elementary School	49	11.2%	436
Austin Tracy Elementary School	46	12.6%	366
Temple Hill Elementary School	39	13.1%	298