Morton Middle School, Lexington KY

Original Research by School Decision on Morton Middle School

Morton Middle School sits on Tates Creek Parkway in southeastern Lexington, a regular public school serving sixth through eighth grade within Fayette County Public Schools. It is one of the larger middle schools in the district by enrollment, and its student body is academically mixed: results on the Kentucky Summative Assessment show that the school has a clear strength in reading and language arts, with a meaningful share of students meeting the state’s proficiency bar across all three middle grades. The same is true for social studies, where eighth graders posted a respectable result. Math proficiency is softer, particularly in sixth grade, and science, tested in seventh grade, is the area where fewer students reached the proficient level. A parent should note that the math and science numbers are weaker than the language arts and social studies results; the school’s overall academic profile is not uniformly strong, and families whose children need support in those subjects may want to ask what interventions are available.

The enrollment is diverse. A little over half the students are white, and the rest are a mix of Black, Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students, with Hispanic students representing a substantial share. A meaningful portion of students come from households with lower incomes, as measured by the free and reduced-price meal program. The school serves all three middle grades in roughly even numbers, creating a straightforward feeder pattern into area high schools. Lexington itself is a city that blends a major public university, a thoroughbred horse industry, and a growing downtown distillery scene; it operates as a consolidated city-county government and is governed by the nation’s first urban growth boundary, which channels new development into an urban service area while preserving rural horse farms. Housing in the school’s ZIP code is notably more expensive than state and national benchmarks, and rents have also risen; the home values here are well above typical figures for Kentucky, placing this among Lexington’s pricier neighborhoods.

Because Morton Middle School is the only school in its district that was available for comparison, no meaningful peer ranking could be drawn. A parent looking to evaluate the school alongside others has only the school’s own results to work with, rather than a district-wide frame. The school’s grade band means it does not have a graduation rate to report. Data on special education identification, English learner status, discipline, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, and course access were not available in the file. A parent should verify these details directly with the school, as they are central to understanding how well the school supports all of its students.

The district brief was searched for recent bond measures or new school construction and turned up little specific information, so nothing was included beyond what the school’s own profile provides. The building itself is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its federal Title I status was not reported. Families considering Morton Middle School should weigh the solid reading and social studies results against the more modest math and science performance, and they should know that the local housing market is expensive even by the standards of the region. The school is large enough to offer a full middle school experience, but the available data leaves significant questions unanswered about student support programs and school climate.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 44% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 50% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 45% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 55% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 53% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 48% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Science

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 33% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 47% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolFayette 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-income52%Higher-income76%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income45%Higher-income76%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income76%37 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income72%40 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income30%Higher-income72%42 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income34%Higher-income75%41 pp gap