The top reported proficiency rate is 35% in English language arts. The lowest is 22% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Old Kentucky Home Middle School
Old Kentucky Home Middle School serves grades six through eight in Bardstown, Kentucky, as a regular public school within the Nelson County district. The school occupies a single campus on Wildcat Lane in a town that styles itself the Bourbon Capital of the World, a small historic city whose economy runs on distilleries, tourism, and manufacturing. Housing values in the area sit above the statewide benchmark, and the town has seen steady population growth, with new distilleries and industrial parks continuing to open. For a family considering this school, the community context matters: Bardstown offers a compact walkable downtown with a strong tourism draw, but the middle school itself sits outside that historic core.
Academically, Old Kentucky Home Middle School’s state assessment results for the 2024-25 school year place its overall proficiency below the midpoint relative to districts in Nelson County. The comparison set includes only two districts, Nelson County and Bardstown City, and the school’s combined proficiency index across tested subjects and grades falls at the lower end of that narrow range. In mathematics, the share of students scoring proficient or above was roughly a quarter to a third of test takers across grades six, seven, and eight. English language arts showed somewhat higher performance, with the strongest result in grade six where over two in five students reached proficiency, while grades seven and eight trailed behind. In science, only about one in five seventh graders met the proficiency bar, and eighth grade social studies posted a similar figure. These are not strong numbers, and a parent may want to ask the school about academic supports and intervention approaches, particularly in math and science, where the gaps are widest. State testing data for earlier years was not available for comparison, so it is unclear whether these results represent a trend or a single year’s snapshot.
The student body is comparatively small for a three-grade middle school, and the demographic profile is predominantly white, with a modest share of students identifying as two or more races and a small Hispanic population. Just under half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a middle-low income context. Information on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported in the available data, so families with children in those categories may want to inquire directly about services and accommodations. No data on discipline, staffing ratios, or chronic absenteeism was provided, and the school’s website was not included in the profile, making it harder to gauge day-to-day climate or program offerings beyond the assessment results. No course access or program information was available, so it is not possible to describe elective, enrichment, or career pathways at this school.
The Nelson County district, which operates Old Kentucky Home Middle School, showed no recent major changes in the publicly available records examined, so there are no district-level shifts to report that would affect a family’s decision.
For a resident or parent reading this account, the picture is of a middle school in a growing and economically active small city, with a largely homogeneous student population and academic outcomes that are well below the average of the county’s two districts. A family whose priority is a school with strong test performance relative to local peers may find this a soft spot. Those who value the setting of Bardstown itself—a historic town with a stable tourism-driven economy and a range of housing options above state norms—and who are prepared to seek out academic support may still find the school workable. The absence of several common data points means that a direct conversation with the school office is a necessary next step for any serious evaluation.
See more original research from School Decision →