Fulton County Elementary, Hickman KY

Original Research by School Decision on Fulton County Elementary

Fulton County Elementary serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Hickman, a small Mississippi River town and the county seat of Fulton County, Kentucky. The school is the lone elementary in the Fulton County district, which also includes a middle and high school elsewhere in the county. Hickman itself is a historic river town with a downtown core listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but its population has been declining for years. The economy is modest, and the housing market reflects that: home values sit well below state and national benchmarks and have been slipping. The elementary school sits within a community that has faced periodic flooding and economic contraction, rather than growth pressure.

Enrollment at Fulton County Elementary runs to about the size that fits a single school serving families from Hickman and the surrounding rural parts of the county. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which signals a high-need population. The student body is majority white, with a large Black minority and a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races. Hispanic, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students each make up a very small portion of the school, if any. The school’s grade span means there are no state-issued graduation rates to report, because the building does not serve high school grades.

State assessment results for the most recent school year paint a picture of a school where the majority of students are not yet reaching the proficient or distinguished levels Kentucky uses. In math, proficiency rates across grades three, four, and five were below the midpoint relative to other districts in Fulton County. English language arts scores were somewhat higher than math but still landed below that county district midpoint. Science and social studies results, each tested at a single grade level, followed a similar pattern: a minority of students scored proficient or above. A parent looking at these numbers would want to ask the school what academic interventions and supports are in place and how student growth is being tracked beyond the overall proficiency rate.

The school’s profile gives no indication of charter or magnet status; it operates as a regular public school. Information on discipline, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, and course access was not available in the data provided. The district brief turned up no major recent changes, so there is no announced restructuring, leadership turnover, or new program to factor into a family’s decision.

For a family considering Fulton County Elementary, the key context is that this is a small, high-poverty rural school in a shrinking town. The academic results are below what many families would hope to see, particularly in math, though the school’s elementary-only span means there is no secondary measure such as a graduation rate to round out the picture. The community offers low housing costs and the anchors of a small-town civic core, but also a declining population base and limited local economic opportunity. A parent moving here or already living here should plan on close engagement with the school to understand what academic progress looks like year to year and what supplemental resources are available inside and outside the building.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 415%

School 15% · District 15%

▼ 30 pts below state median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 25%

▼ 17 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Science

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 21%

▼ 17 pts below state median

This schoolFulton 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 4Lower-income29%Higher-income50%21 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income69%Higher-income60%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income79%Higher-income80%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income73%Higher-income100%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income66%Higher-income60%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income58%Higher-income70%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income91%44 pp gap