West Pennyroyal News

There were 663 kindergarten students enrolled in Barren County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 4.6% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Highland Elementary School welcomed most of the kindergarten 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 Kindergarten Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Highland Elementary School	127	15.6%	816
Red Cross Elementary School	93	12.4%	753
South Green Elementary School	81	13.6%	595
North Jackson Elementary School	66	11.3%	583
Park City Elementary School	57	13.1%	436
Caverna Elementary School	53	15%	354
Austin Tracy Elementary School	52	14.2%	366
Hiseville Elementary School	48	14.9%	322
Eastern Elementary School	41	10.8%	378
Temple Hill Elementary School	37	12.4%	298
BAVEL	8	2.9%	275