North Laurel Middle School, London KY

Original Research by School Decision on North Laurel Middle School

North Laurel Middle School serves grades six through eight in London, the county seat of Laurel County. London is a small city in southeastern Kentucky, a regional hub for the surrounding micropolitan area, with a historic downtown along Main Street and commercial growth near the Interstate 75 corridor. The area saw a destructive tornado in 2025 that will drive rebuilding. The school sits just outside downtown on Johnson Road, part of a county district that operates two comprehensive high schools. The housing market here is more affordable than state and national benchmarks, reflecting the area’s small-city and rural character.

Academically, the school shows a mixed picture on Kentucky’s state assessments. In reading, sixth and seventh graders post solid proficiency rates, with a majority of students meeting the bar. Eighth-grade reading drops noticeably, landing below half proficient—a pattern a parent may want to ask the school about, especially since the middle school years are when reading demands shift toward more complex analysis. Math proficiency runs above half in grade seven, dips a little in grade six, and slips further in grade eight. Science in seventh grade and social studies in eighth grade each fall around the halfway mark or just above it. Overall, the school’s proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, places it among the lower-performing schools when compared with other districts in Laurel County. The comparison set is small—only two districts in the county—so the position is relative to just one other district, but it still signals that academic attainment here trails that of the county’s other public school system.

The student body is a large one for a middle school, with enrollment spread fairly evenly across the three grades. The student population is overwhelmingly white, with small shares of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with significant economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent should check directly with the school about those support services.

The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet status, and it operates within the Laurel County district. No recent district-level changes or initiatives were found in public sources, so the school’s programming likely follows the county’s standard middle school curriculum. Because this is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report, and there is no data on course access, discipline, staffing, or chronic absenteeism. Those gaps mean a parent may want to ask about things like algebra readiness, elective offerings, and how the school addresses attendance and behavior.

For a family considering this school, the takeaway is that North Laurel Middle delivers uneven academic results, with stronger reading in early middle grades softening by eighth grade. The school is set in an affordable, small-town Appalachian community that has experienced both growth and recent disruption. The peer environment is economically diverse within a mostly white student body. This is a school where a parent will want to stay engaged, particularly as their child moves through the grades, and to ask specific questions about how the school supports students who struggle and how it prepares them for high school coursework.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 53% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 763%

School 63% · District 62% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 12 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 66% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 771%

School 71% · District 66% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 52% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Science

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 41% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 51% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

This schoolLaurel 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-income61%Higher-income81%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income67%Higher-income78%11 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income35%Higher-income76%41 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income52%Higher-income70%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income56%Higher-income73%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income42%Higher-income78%36 pp gap