The top reported proficiency rate is 73% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Gamaliel Elementary
Gamaliel Elementary serves students from preschool through fifth grade in the small, rural town of Gamaliel, Kentucky, near the Tennessee border. It is a regular public school within the Monroe County school district. The enrollment is small and overwhelmingly white, with a Hispanic population that makes up a notable share and small numbers of students from other racial backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a moderate-to-high poverty context.
The town itself is tiny, with a long history of population decline, and sits on a hill between two waterways. Its civic infrastructure is minimal: a city hall, a post office, and a fire department. There is no public library or transit system mentioned in publicly available records. Kentucky Route 100 runs through town and connects to Tompkinsville, the county seat, about a short drive northeast. The housing market reflects the area’s low-income, working-class character, with home values well below both the state and national averages. A family moving here should expect a quiet, low-activity setting.
On state assessments, Gamaliel Elementary shows a mixed picture that varies notably by grade and subject. In reading, third graders posted a strong proficiency rate, and fourth graders also did well. Fifth graders in reading were solid but a step lower. In math, third and fourth graders both performed at a similar solid level, while fifth graders in math fell off noticeably, landing at a rate that is a clear soft spot. Science, tested in fourth grade, came in around the middle of the range. Social studies, tested in fifth grade, was low and is an area a parent may want to look into further with the school. Across the board, the pattern is one of higher performance in the early tested grades and a drop-off by fifth grade, especially in math and social studies. The school reports results for all-students groups only; no breakout data for subgroups such as students with disabilities or English learners was available, so a parent with a child who receives specialized support would want to ask directly about those outcomes.
The school has no high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. No information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, or course access was available in the data provided. The comparison with other districts in Monroe County could not be run because there is only one district in the county, so no relative positioning is possible. A parent evaluating this school should note that the data is thin in several areas that matter for a full picture of school climate and support.
For program offerings, no details were found in the available records. The school website was not included in the data, and the district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as boundary shifts, new facilities, or leadership turnover. A family considering this school would want to visit, talk to the principal, and ask about the fifth-grade dip in math and social studies, as well as what supports are in place for students who are not yet proficient. The school’s size means class groups are small, which can be a benefit for individualized attention, but the limited civic and economic resources in the surrounding community may affect the scope of enrichment and extracurricular options. For a family rooted in a rural, low-key setting who values a small elementary school with pockets of strong early-grade reading results, Gamaliel Elementary may be a reasonable fit, but the drop in upper-elementary performance warrants a closer look.
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