West Pennyroyal News

There were 638 second grade 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 second grade students in the county, registering 109 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 2nd Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Highland Elementary School	109	13.4%	816
Red Cross Elementary School	93	12.4%	753
South Green Elementary School	88	14.8%	595
North Jackson Elementary School	71	12.2%	583
Caverna Elementary School	54	15.3%	354
Park City Elementary School	52	11.9%	436
Austin Tracy Elementary School	48	13.1%	366
Eastern Elementary School	45	11.9%	378
Hiseville Elementary School	38	11.8%	322
Temple Hill Elementary School	32	10.7%	298
BAVEL	8	2.9%	275