The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in English language arts. The lowest is 50% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Locust Grove Elementary School
Locust Grove Elementary School sits in Crestwood, a fast-growing residential suburb of Louisville in Oldham County. The school is part of the Oldham County district and serves kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school. Crestwood itself has transformed from farmland and railroad country into a sprawling suburban community over the past three decades, with population growth that accelerated from the 1990s onward. The city’s own marketing emphasizes “beautiful neighborhoods, extraordinary schools,” and the median household income in the area is well above national averages. Housing values locally are strong and have seen steady appreciation; homeownership is the norm, though there has been a modest shift toward rental housing in recent years. The built environment is auto-oriented, with civic life dispersed among highway corridors and separate school campuses rather than a traditional downtown.
Academically, Locust Grove’s state assessment results from the most recent testing round show a mixed picture that improves as students move through the grades. In English language arts, proficiency is solid: most third graders meet the state’s proficient bar, and that share rises by fifth grade, where about seven in ten students score at or above proficient. Mathematics performance is more uneven. Roughly half of third graders reach proficiency, while fourth and fifth graders do a bit better, with about three-fifths of students in those grades meeting the standard. Science and social studies are tested in fourth and fifth grades respectively, and in both subjects roughly half of students are proficient. These are not standout numbers for a district that is widely regarded as strong, but they suggest a school where a majority of students are on grade level in reading, while math and the sciences leave more room for growth. A parent who wants to understand how the school is addressing those gaps should look into this further with the school itself, as no information about interventions or instructional focus was available.
The student body is predominantly white, with a small but visible share of students who identify as two or more races and smaller groups of Hispanic, Black, and Asian students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a figure that is low compared to state averages and reflects the relative affluence of the surrounding community. The school enrolls several hundred students across six grades, making it a mid-sized elementary school by Kentucky standards. No data was reported for students receiving special education services or for English learners, so it is unclear what proportion of the school’s population receives those supports.
Locust Grove Elementary is housed on its own campus along a highway corridor, consistent with the dispersed pattern of schools in Crestwood. The school’s website was not provided, but the district’s reputation for quality schools is a recurring theme in community descriptions. No information was available on class sizes, teacher experience, discipline rates, or chronic absenteeism, all of which would be useful for a fuller picture of the day-to-day environment. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on high school course access.
For families considering this school, the core takeaway is that Locust Grove sits in a high-wealth, fast-growing suburb where housing prices are a significant consideration. The school’s academic performance is decent but not uniformly strong, with reading as the clear strength. The community is auto-dependent, and the school is part of a district that enjoys a strong local reputation. A parent with children in the primary grades will find a largely homogeneous peer environment and a setting that has seen rapid residential growth, which may bring both benefits in terms of resources and potential challenges of accommodating new enrollment. The missing data on staffing and student supports means there are gaps in what can be said about the school’s capacity to serve students who need additional help.
See more original research from School Decision →