West Jessamine Middle School, Nicholasville KY

Original Research by School Decision on West Jessamine Middle School

WestJessamine Middle School serves sixth through eighth graders in Nicholasville, a fast-growing city in central Kentucky's Bluegrass region about a short drive south of Lexington. The school sits within the Jessamine County district, the only public school system in the county. Nicholasville has been one of Kentucky's fastest-growing communities, transforming from a small county seat into a sizable city, driven by its position as a bedroom community for Lexington and as a retail and services center for the surrounding area. The built environment is heavily automobile-oriented, centered on the US Route 27 corridor, with a traditional Main Street downtown. The area's rapid growth has brought new residential development and infrastructure demands, and the housing market reflects that pressure, with local home values sitting above the state median and rental costs rising.

The school itself is a regular public middle school with a substantial enrollment for its grade band. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students. A meaningful share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a mix of economic backgrounds across the community.

On state assessments, academic results vary by subject and grade level. In English language arts, across all three grades, a little over half of students met the state's proficiency benchmark. Math results follow a similar pattern, with the highest rate in seventh grade and a notably lower rate in eighth grade. Science is tested in seventh grade only, and here fewer than four in ten students reached the proficient level, a soft spot that a parent may want to look into further with the school. Social studies, tested in eighth grade, came in around the midpoint of the performance scale seen in other subjects. Overall, the school's proficiency rates cluster in a middle range, with some variation depending on the subject and grade. Because Jessamine County has only one school district, there is no meaningful local comparison to other districts within the county; the results stand on their own relative to state standards.

The school does not serve high school grades, so no graduation rate is reported. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing, and course access were not available in the sources reviewed, so a parent may want to ask about those areas directly. Information about special education and English learner populations was also missing from the data.

West Jessamine Middle School operates in a growing, commuter-oriented community where new development along the highway corridor continues to reshape the landscape. The school's academic profile suggests a typical middle school experience, with the majority of students meeting state expectations in English and math but with room for improvement in science and some grade-level subjects. For a family moving into this area, the school represents the middle school option for the Jessamine County district, serving a population that reflects the broader demographic and economic mix of Nicholasville and its surrounding areas.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 43% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 758%

School 58% · District 51% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 41% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 52% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 52% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 45% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median

Science

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 31% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 42% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median

This schoolJessamine 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 6Lower-income42%Higher-income74%32 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income68%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income67%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income34%Higher-income68%34 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income43%Higher-income72%29 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income28%Higher-income66%38 pp gap