The top reported proficiency rate is 48% in Math. The lowest is 28% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Jefferson Elementary School
Jefferson Elementary School is a regular public school serving kindergarten through fifth grade in Henderson, Kentucky, part of the Henderson County district. The school sits on the south side of town, a short distance from the Ohio River and the downtown area that has been the civic center since the city’s founding. Henderson itself is a mix of residential neighborhoods, commercial strips, and industrial plants, anchored by manufacturing in aluminum, automotive parts, plastics, and food processing, as well as agriculture and coal. The city is the county seat and is considered the southernmost suburb of Evansville, Indiana, connected by interstate bridges that make the broader metropolitan area accessible in a short drive.
Jefferson Elementary’s student body reflects the surrounding community’s demographic diversity. White students form the largest single group, but the school also enrolls a substantial share of Black students and a notable portion of students who identify as two or more races. Hispanic students make up a smaller but present share of the population, and the remainder includes a very small number of Asian students. A significant majority of students come from lower-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, which gives the school a high-needs profile common in many Kentucky school districts serving older industrial towns.
On the state’s Kentucky Summative Assessment, Jefferson Elementary shows a mixed academic picture. Across the three tested grades, math proficiency rates varied noticeably: third and fifth graders reached or passed the halfway mark, while fourth graders fell below that level. English language arts results followed a similar pattern, with third and fifth graders performing higher than fourth graders. Science is assessed only at fourth grade, and the proficiency rate there was the lowest of any tested subject at the school. Social studies, tested in fifth grade, landed in a middle range. Taken together, the results are inconsistent across grades and subjects, with some cohorts at grade and others below. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the specific instructional supports and how student growth varies from year to year. The school has no publicly reported multi-year trend data, so it is not possible to see whether these scores represent change over time.
The district that runs Jefferson Elementary has been making a significant shift in how reading is taught across its elementary schools. Henderson County has moved toward structured literacy practices aligned with the science of reading, including systematic phonics instruction, with professional development provided for teachers. That means the curriculum and instructional approach at Jefferson Elementary are likely in active transition. The district has also been investing in facility upgrades across multiple schools, including roof replacements, HVAC work, and security improvements, all of which affect the learning environment. At the high school level, career and technical education pathways in advanced manufacturing, healthcare sciences, and information technology have been expanded, though that is more relevant for families considering the longer pathway through the district rather than the current elementary experience.
The housing market in Jefferson Elementary’s attendance area reflects Henderson’s broader affordability. Home values in the area sit below both the state and national medians, and a typical monthly mortgage payment would be considerably less than the national rent equivalent. For families looking to buy a home, this is a relatively accessible market. Rents, too, are modest relative to incomes, suggesting that housing costs are not as stretched here as in many parts of the country. The local unemployment rate has been near the national average, and recent years have not seen dramatic population swings in Henderson, which has remained fairly stable in size.
Jefferson Elementary is a neighborhood school in a small industrial city with a working-class base, a river town feel, and ties to a larger metro area just across the Ohio River. The school serves a high-poverty student population, and its test results are uneven, with bright spots in some grades and subjects and weaker areas that families should ask about. The district’s recent adoption of structured literacy is a concrete change likely to shape the reading instruction children receive. For a family that values a traditional public elementary with a diverse and economically mixed student body, in a community with modest housing costs and a laid-back regional setting, Jefferson Elementary fits within that picture. Those seeking a school with consistently strong across-the-board test scores may want to investigate further.
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