Silver Creek Elementary School, Berea KY

Original Research by School Decision on Silver Creek Elementary School

Silver Creek Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in Berea, Kentucky, part of the Madison County school district. It sits in a small city known for its arts and crafts identity, Berea College, and a growing manufacturing base. The school itself reflects the community’s demographic makeup: the student body is predominantly white, with a small share of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, placing the school in a higher-poverty context among elementary schools in the county.

State assessment results from the most recent testing year give a mixed picture of academic performance. In reading, the share of students scoring proficient or above varied across grades, from a modest portion in third grade to roughly half in fourth grade, with fifth grade somewhere in between. Math results were weaker: third-grade proficiency was lower, and fourth-grade math results were suppressed, meaning the data was not reported for privacy or statistical reasons. Fifth-grade math showed a somewhat higher proficiency rate, but still well under half of students. In science, fourth-grade proficiency was similar to the mid-range reading scores, and in social studies, fifth-grade proficiency was lower. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Madison County. A family looking at these numbers will want to consider how the school addresses student learning gaps, especially in math, and may wish to ask the school about the suppressed fourth-grade results directly.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate or college readiness data to consider. Information on special education services, English learner programs, discipline rates, and chronic absenteeism was not available in the provided data, so a parent would benefit from following up with the school for those details.

Berea itself is a small, fast-growing city with a pedestrian-friendly downtown, a strong connection to Berea College, and major employers in manufacturing and tourism. The Hitachi Astemo plant expansion and the college’s presence suggest steady economic activity. The Madison County district has not had any recently reported major changes that would affect families directly.

For a family, Silver Creek Elementary offers a typical elementary pathway in a regular public school setting. The peer environment is economically diverse, with a majority of students from lower-income households, and the racial composition is largely white. The school’s academic performance is a soft spot relative to county peers, and the missing data on some key student support areas means a parent should investigate further. Families who value a small-city atmosphere with a college-town feel and a growing local economy may find Berea an attractive place to live, but the school’s test results suggest that academic support and enrichment are worth exploring in detail.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 42% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 542%

School 42% · District 49% · ▼ 7 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 46% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 53% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 62% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Science

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 39% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 47% · ▼ 9 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

This schoolMadison 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 3Lower-income39%Higher-income46%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income44%Higher-income67%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income46%4 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income21%Higher-income54%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income46%8 pp gap