James Lane Allen Elementary School, Lexington KY

Original Research by School Decision on James Lane Allen Elementary School

James Lane Allen Elementary is a regular public school in Lexington’s Fayette County, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits within a mid-sized neighborhood school that draws from the surrounding residential area of the city.

The student body is diverse. A substantial share of students come from Hispanic backgrounds, with a smaller but notable share of white students and Black students, plus a small number of students who identify as two or more races and a very small Asian population. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a high rate and marks the school as serving a community with significant economic need.

State assessment results are available for math, reading, social studies, and science across grades three, four, and five. In math, proficiency rates across all three tested grades were below the state average, with a consistent pattern around a modest share of students meeting the bar. In reading, the fourth and fifth grade results were higher than the math results in those same grades, but still below the state average; third grade reading was similar to the math figures. Science results in fourth grade and social studies results in fifth grade also fell below typical state levels. A parent looking at these numbers should understand that the school’s overall academic performance on state tests is weak relative to Kentucky’s benchmarks. There is no multi-year trend data available, so it is not possible to see whether this is a stable pattern or a recent shift.

Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and there are no advanced course or career pathway offerings that apply to this grade band. The school does not appear to have magnet status or charter status, and its Title I status was not reported. Information on staffing, discipline, chronic absenteeism, and special education or English learner populations was missing from the data provided, which makes it difficult to assess the school’s support structures or student experience beyond test scores.

The housing market in the area that feeds into the school reflects typical costs for Lexington. Home values are roughly on par with the national median, though the national figure has been rising slightly while the local market shows a modest upward trend. Rental costs are also in line with national patterns, and the ratio of rent to income suggests that housing is not unusually burdensome for the area.

Lexington itself is a consolidated city-county and the second-largest city in Kentucky. It blends a major university presence, with the University of Kentucky as the largest employer, alongside a globally known thoroughbred horse industry, distilleries, and a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors. The city operates under a merged urban-county government and has an urban growth boundary that shapes development. The downtown and university areas function together as the civic core, but the broader county includes extensive suburban and rural areas. Much of the city is auto-oriented, though the downtown core is more walkable. The Fayette County district serves the entire county, so this school’s attendance zone reflects one of many distinct neighborhoods within the larger Lexington area.

For a family considering James Lane Allen Elementary, the central takeaway is that the school serves a high-need population and has state test scores that are below the state average across multiple subjects. The school’s location in a mid-sized, diverse city with a strong university and horse-industry economy offers community amenities, but the academic performance data points to challenges that a parent may want to discuss directly with the school to understand what programs, interventions, and support systems are in place. Without data on class sizes, teacher experience, or student discipline, those specifics remain unaddressed in public records.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 45% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 49% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 49% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 50% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 53% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 53% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 40% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 529%

School 29% · District 43% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below 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 3Lower-income15%Higher-income57%42 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income35%Higher-income47%12 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income70%39 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income17%Higher-income57%40 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income33%8 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income50%27 pp gap