The top reported proficiency rate is 80% in Math. The lowest is 76% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Dewitt Elementary School
Dewitt Elementary School serves grades prekindergarten through fifth in the unincorporated Knox County community of Flat Lick. It is one of the elementary schools within the Knox County district. The school is a regular public school and sits in a deeply rural area of southeastern Kentucky. Flat Lick has no downtown or municipal center; the community’s primary landmark is a small roadside historical park at the intersection of two old frontier roads. US Route 25E is the main corridor through the area. The population of the census-designated place declined in the most recent decade, and no major new housing or commercial development was identified in searches. The Knox County district did not have recent parent-relevant changes publicly reported that would alter a family’s sense of the school’s trajectory.
The enrollment is small for an elementary school spanning prekindergarten through fifth grade. The student body is almost entirely white. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a proxy for low-income household eligibility that places this school in a high-need context. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available.
State testing results for the most recent school year are mixed and incomplete. For reading in third and fourth grade, the proficiency rates are relatively strong, with the large majority of tested students reaching the state’s proficient or distinguished level. Those are the school’s strongest reported results. In fifth-grade reading, the state suppressed the result, meaning that too few students tested or the count was too small to report publicly. In mathematics, fifth-grade results are low, with a small minority of students scoring proficient or above. Third- and fourth-grade math results were suppressed. Science testing in fourth grade and social studies testing in fifth grade were also suppressed. The overall picture, based on the results that were reported, is uneven: the school performs well in early-elementary reading but shows a soft spot in upper-elementary math. When compared across Knox County’s elementary schools using an index of all reported proficiency rates, Dewitt Elementary lands in the top quarter of the county’s schools, a position that reflects its stronger reading results.
Because this school serves only elementary grades, it has no graduation rate to report and no high-school-level pathways such as advanced placement or dual credit. Families looking ahead to the middle and high school years will need to consider the secondary options the Knox County district provides in other buildings.
Dewitt Elementary is a small, rural school serving a low-income population. Its academic profile is uneven, with clear strengths in early literacy and a need for attention in math at the upper grades. The suppressed results across several subjects and grade levels mean that a family cannot get a full picture of how the school performs in every tested area, and that is worth discussing directly with the school or district to understand whether small class sizes or other factors are behind the data suppression. For a family living in or near Flat Lick who values a neighborhood elementary experience in a quiet rural setting, the school offers that. Those who want a wider range of academic measures or program options should ask how Knox County supports math instruction and what resources are available for students who need additional help.
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