The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in English language arts. The lowest is 28% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Morningside Elementary School
Morningside Elementary School serves first through fifth grade in Elizabethtown, a mid-sized city that functions as the county seat of Hardin County and a regional hub for the surrounding metro area. The city has seen steady growth over recent decades, and its housing market is known for being relatively affordable, with a mix of single-family homes and multi-family units. The local economy blends manufacturing, distribution, and the presence of Fort Knox about a short drive to the north, which shapes much of the area’s employment base. For families considering the school, the city offers a historic downtown core, a branch of the Hardin County Public Library, and Freeman Lake Park with trails for biking and hiking. The city is largely car-oriented, with Interstate 65 running through its southeast side.
Morningside Elementary is a regular public school within the Elizabethtown Independent district. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary school serving grades one through five. The student body is majority white, with smaller shares of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. More than half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that the school serves a substantial number of families with lower household incomes. The school does not have a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten program; it begins at first grade.
State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year show a mixed picture. In English language arts, roughly half of students in third and fourth grade scored at the proficient level or above, with a slightly lower share in fifth grade. In mathematics, proficiency rates were lower across all tested grades, and the share of students meeting the bar declined from third to fifth grade. In science, tested in fourth grade, about half of students were proficient. Social studies, tested in fifth grade, had a notably lower proficiency rate. Overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades placed the school in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Hardin County, though it is important to note that the county has only two districts, so the comparison set is narrow. The results suggest that while a solid portion of students are meeting state expectations in reading at the earlier grades, math performance and social studies are areas where a parent may want to look into further with the school to understand what supports are available.
Because Morningside is an elementary school, there are no graduation rate or college readiness metrics to consider. The district itself, Elizabethtown Independent, operates several other schools including a middle school and a high school, so families planning ahead for later grades will eventually move into those buildings. A search for recent district-level changes that might affect parents turned up no notable developments in the last several years, so the district appears to be operating without major recent disruptions.
The school’s location within Elizabethtown places it in a residential area of the city. There is no published data on class sizes, staffing ratios, discipline, or chronic absenteeism for this school, so a parent interested in those dimensions would need to ask directly. The school also does not appear to have specialized program offerings such as a magnet or charter designation listed in the available data.
For a family looking at Morningside Elementary, the context is a stable, growing city with affordable housing and a school that draws from a diverse by economic background student body. The academic results are moderate, with stronger reading scores in the earlier grades and weaker math and social studies scores by fifth grade. The school sits within a small district with limited comparison points, but the overall proficiency level is on the lower side among those two districts. A parent who values close proximity to a historic downtown, a regional economy anchored by manufacturing and the military base, and a school where the majority of students qualify for meal assistance may find this a reasonable fit, though they would want to understand what academic interventions and enrichment are in place, especially in math and social studies.
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