James A. Cawood Elementary, Harlan KY

Original Research by School Decision on James A. Cawood Elementary

James A. Cawood Elementary serves students from preschool through eighth grade in Harlan, Kentucky, part of the Harlan County school district. The school is located at 279 Ball Park Road, on the outskirts of the town’s built-up area. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet school. The enrollment is modest for a school covering so many grade levels. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with small numbers of Black and Hispanic students. A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure well above national averages. This is a high-poverty school in an Appalachian county seat that has seen its coal-based economy shrink for decades, and the student demographics reflect that economic context.

On state assessments, the school’s results vary notably by subject and grade level. In reading and language arts, third graders posted a strong proficiency rate, as did fourth graders and sixth graders. Fifth grade reading proficiency came in lower, and seventh grade reading was a soft spot, with a much smaller share of students meeting the state standard. Eighth graders landed back in the middle range. In math, the results across grades three through eight clustered mostly in the middle, with fourth, seventh, and eighth graders somewhat higher than third, fifth, and sixth graders. Science results were reported only for seventh grade, where a relatively small share of students scored proficient. Social studies results for fifth and eighth graders showed the eighth graders at a stronger level.

A parent looking at these results will see a school where the earlier elementary grades in reading are a clear strength, while middle school reading in the seventh grade is an area a family may want to ask the school about directly. In math, the pattern is flatter but generally consistent with what is seen in many rural elementary and middle schools. The data does not include results for the primary grades of kindergarten through second, because Kentucky state testing begins in third grade.

The school has no high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. It also does not serve grades that would produce data on advanced coursework or college readiness metrics. For families who want to know how this school compares to others in the area, the available comparison data places James A. Cawood Elementary’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades above the midpoint among the two districts in Harlan County.

The town of Harlan sits in a narrow mountain valley. Its historic commercial district is walkable, with a county courthouse that has been partially reused as a gallery and history center. Two public school districts are based here, Harlan County and Harlan Independent, along with a campus of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. The county district operates a consolidated high school elsewhere in the county. Housing values in the area are well below state and national benchmarks, and the local housing market has seen some softening recently. The nearest public library is a branch of the Harlan County Public Library. Nearby outdoor recreation includes Kingdom Come State Park, the Daniel Boone National Forest, and Blanton Forest, which is the largest old-growth forest in the state.

The Harlan County district did not have recent major changes or strategic initiatives publicly reported, so this profile focuses on what is known from the school’s own data and the surrounding community.

For a family considering James A. Cawood Elementary, the picture is of a small, high-poverty school in a region that has experienced long-term economic transition. The strongest academic results appear in early elementary reading, while math holds steady across grades. The middle school years, particularly seventh grade reading, show a dip that warrants a conversation with the school about what supports are in place. The community itself is compact, with a historic downtown, a working library, and access to mountain recreation. Housing is affordable, and the school is one of two districts serving the same small city, so families have a nearby choice between the county school and the independent district if they live within the appropriate boundaries.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 345%

School 45% · District 36% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 458%

School 58% · District 41% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 41% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 49% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 45% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 45% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 47% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 58% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 52% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 672%

School 72% · District 65% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 54% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 859%

School 59% · District 43% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Science

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 37% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 43% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 43% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

This schoolHarlan 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.