Symsonia Elementary School, Symsonia KY

Original Research by School Decision on Symsonia Elementary School

Symsonia Elementary School sits at a rural crossroads in Graves County, Kentucky, serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. The community it anchors is a small, unincorporated place where the built environment is car-dependent and centered on a four-way stop at the intersection of two state highways. Residents work in fields like health care and wholesale trade, and population estimates show a decline in recent years. For a family, this context matters: Symsonia is not a growing suburb or a bustling small town. The school itself is the primary civic institution in the area, alongside a longtime post office, and it draws from a scattered rural attendance zone.

The student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a smaller number of students who identify as two or more races. The data does not report counts for Asian, Black, or other racial groups. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a context where economic need is part of the picture. The school serves a full elementary grade span, including a pre-kindergarten program, and enrollment is distributed fairly evenly across kindergarten through fifth grade, with a somewhat smaller sixth-grade class.

On state assessments, Symsonia Elementary posts results that are a strength. Across tested subjects and grades, the school places in the top quarter among districts in Graves County—a meaningful marker in a comparison set that includes only two districts. Reading and math proficiency rates consistently reach a majority of students in every tested grade, with the strongest performance in sixth grade, where roughly three-quarters of students met the bar in reading and a similar share in math. Fourth-grade math and reading show slightly lower results, though still above half of students proficient. Science, tested in fourth grade, and social studies, tested in fifth grade, also land at levels where a clear majority of students score proficient or above. For a school of this size and rural setting, these are solid, dependable numbers. A parent looking for a school where most children are meeting state benchmarks in the elementary years will find that pattern here.

Because the school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on chronic absenteeism or discipline was available in the provided records. Those metrics simply do not apply at this grade band, so their absence should not be read as a gap in oversight. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its Title I status was not reported. Information on programs such as gifted services, special education staffing, or enrichment offerings was also absent from the available data. A parent wanting to understand what supports are available for students with learning differences or for advanced learners would need to follow up directly with the school or the Graves County district office.

Nearby housing is affordable relative to national benchmarks. Home values in the ZIP code are well below the state median, and monthly mortgage costs are modest. Rents are low enough that renting is cheaper than buying in this market, which is the reverse of many parts of the country. For a family considering a move into the area, the financial picture is accessible but comes with the trade-off of a rural location with limited services and a declining population base.

Symsonia Elementary offers a straightforward proposition: a small, rural school where academic proficiency is consistently above the local average, set in a community that is quiet, low-cost, and car-dependent. It fits a family that values a traditional elementary experience in a tight-knit crossroads setting and is comfortable with the limits of rural life. The district has not had major recent changes that would alter that picture, based on available information. A parent should verify program availability and special education supports directly, but the academic core of this school is clear and steady.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 64% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 64% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 16 pts above state median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 59% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 16 pts above state median

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 71% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 27 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 367%

School 67% · District 72% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 20 pts above state median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 67% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 72% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 673%

School 73% · District 77% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 19 pts above state median

Science

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 50% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 56% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

This schoolGraves 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-income59%Higher-income77%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income60%Higher-income72%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income62%Higher-income86%24 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income41%Higher-income65%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income61%4 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income55%Higher-income86%31 pp gap