F T Burns Middle School, Owensboro KY

Original Research by School Decision on F T Burns Middle School

F T Burns Middle School serves sixth through eighth grade as part of Daviess County Public Schools in Owensboro, Kentucky. It is a regular public school with a sizeable enrollment for a middle school, drawing from across the county portion of the Owensboro area rather than the city-run district. The student body is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and notable Asian and Black populations; roughly two-thirds of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a context of moderate economic need. The school sits in Owensboro, a mid-sized Ohio River city that functions as a regional hub for manufacturing, healthcare, and bourbon distilling, with a redeveloped downtown riverfront and a calendar of festivals. Housing in the school’s zip code is priced slightly below the statewide benchmark, and rents are modest relative to national levels, which may matter to families weighing school options alongside affordability.

On state testing, the picture is mixed and varies by subject. In math, proficiency rates improve across the grades, starting lower with sixth grade and rising to a stronger level by eighth grade. English language arts proficiency stays in a similar band across all three grades, with a modest drop in seventh grade before rebounding somewhat in eighth. Social studies, tested only in eighth grade, lands in that same general zone. Science, tested in seventh grade alone, is notably lower, with about a quarter of students reaching proficiency, a soft spot that a parent may want to ask the school about directly. When placed against the other district in Daviess County, Burns sits above the midpoint on overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades, meaning it performs in the upper half of the very small local field. No graduation rate data applies here because the school ends at eighth grade, and no chronic absenteeism data was available for comparison.

The school offers no special designations such as magnet or charter status, and no Title I status was reported even though a large share of its students come from low-income households, a point a parent might clarify with the district. Information on programs, course access, staffing, and discipline was not included in the available data, so the picture of what happens inside the building beyond test scores is incomplete. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes for Daviess County Public Schools in the sources searched, leaving any budget shifts, curriculum updates, or boundary adjustments unclear.

For a family considering Burns, the central takeaway is a middle school with a diverse enrollment in a stable county district, set in a city with a solid manufacturing and healthcare economy. Academic results are strongest in math by eighth grade and weakest in science, and the school performs around the local average when measured against its sole county neighbor. The lack of detail on programs and supports means a visit or a call to the school would be worthwhile for any parent trying to understand the full experience their child would have.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 46% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 53% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 48% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 56% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 747%

School 47% · District 54% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 47% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

Science

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 41% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

This schoolDaviess County, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income63%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income55%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income68%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income49%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income36%Higher-income66%30 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income45%Higher-income62%17 pp gap