Olmstead Elementary School, Olmstead KY

Original Research by School Decision on Olmstead Elementary School

Olmstead Elementary School serves students from preschool through eighth grade in the small, rural unincorporated community of Olmstead, Kentucky. Part of the Logan County district, the school is the primary gathering point in a place with no downtown, no commercial district, and very limited civic infrastructure. For a family considering this area, the school is essentially the hub of the community—alongside the local Baptist church, it is the institution where residents come together.

The student body is small and predominantly white, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report; students who live here move to a different school for ninth through twelfth grade. The setting is deeply rural—farmland and scattered homes on roads without sidewalks. Walkability is nonexistent, and residents drive to nearby Russellville or other towns for shopping and services. Housing values in the broader Logan County area sit roughly in line with state-level medians, and the area has seen little new development; the post office closed some time ago, and population estimates show uncertainty rather than clear growth.

Academically, Olmstead Elementary presents a mixed picture that varies considerably by grade and subject. In reading, the school’s strongest showing comes in sixth grade, where a clear majority of students met the state’s proficiency benchmark. Fifth and third graders also posted solid results, while fourth, seventh, and eighth graders showed lower proficiency rates, with eighth grade falling notably below the school’s own highs. Math follows a similar pattern: sixth and seventh graders performed relatively well, with more than half of students scoring at or above the proficient level; third and fifth graders were close to that mark, while fourth and eighth graders lagged behind. State science assessment data was suppressed for fourth and seventh grade, so no picture is available there. In social studies, the school’s fifth and eighth graders both showed proficiency rates that fell short of the majority mark, with eighth graders slightly ahead of fifth graders.

When placed against the other districts in Logan County, Olmstead’s overall proficiency index lands above the midpoint of the two-district comparison set. That is a meaningful signal: within a small county, this school’s tested performance stands at the upper end. It is not a uniform strength across every grade, but taken as a whole, the school outperforms the county’s other district-level average.

The district itself has made two notable recent moves that affect Olmstead Elementary. A digital learning fund and a district-wide 1:1 technology initiative means every student now has a device for accessing learning materials—a lasting shift in how instruction is delivered. Separately, the Logan County School Board approved a set of renovation projects across multiple school facilities, representing an investment in the physical learning environment that touches Olmstead as part of the broader district.

For a parent or resident weighing this school, the key takeaway is that Olmstead is a small, intimately scaled PK-8 school in a quiet rural crossroads. Academic results show peaks in the middle grades, especially in reading at grade six and math at grades six and seven, while the upper elementary and middle school years have more variable outcomes. Families whose children will eventually need high school should plan for the transition to a different Logan County school after eighth grade. The district’s technology and facility investments suggest a commitment to modernizing resources, even in a setting that remains deeply rural and slow to change.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 51% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 34% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 39% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 51% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 50% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 845%

School 45% · District 55% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 51% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 37% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 43% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 58% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 46% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 50% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 536%

School 36% · District 31% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 47% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median

This schoolLogan 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 5Lower-income48%Higher-income67%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income85%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income30%Higher-income50%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income35%Higher-income35%0 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income63%32 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income72%39 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income61%Higher-income75%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income83%48 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income53%14 pp gap