Elkhorn City Elementary School, Elkhorn City KY

Original Research by School Decision on Elkhorn City Elementary School

Elkhorn City Elementary School is a regular public school in the Pike County district, serving students from preschool through eighth grade. This is a school that anchors the early years of a child's academic path in one building, from the start of formal schooling all the way to the end of middle school. It is not a school that sends students to a separate middle school building.

The student body is overwhelmingly White, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The setting is a small Appalachian town in southern Pike County, a place that has positioned itself as a gateway for outdoor recreation, with the Russell Fork River running through it attracting whitewater rafters and kayakers. The town’s population has been declining, and the housing market is comparatively affordable. In the most recent state testing, reading results showed a mixed picture across grades. In third grade, a majority of students met the state's proficiency standard. The rate climbed in fifth grade and held near a similar level in sixth grade, before dropping in seventh grade and then rising again in eighth grade.

In math, the pattern was more varied. Third and fifth grade results both saw a majority of students scoring at the proficient level, but the share of students meeting that bar in seventh and eighth grades was lower, around two in every five. Fourth grade fell in between. The sixth grade math result was suppressed in the data a parent may want to ask the school about how that cohort performed and what supports are in place.

In the other tested subjects, science and social studies, the patterns were narrower. Fourth grade science and seventh grade science both saw fewer than half of students proficient, with the seventh grade figure notably low at under two in five. In social studies, the fifth grade result was also below the halfway mark, while the eighth grade result was stronger, with a clear majority meeting the standard.

The school's overall proficiency, averaged across all tested grades and subjects, sits above the midpoint among the small number of districts within Pike County. Because the school only serves up to grade eight, no high school graduation rate is reported here, and there is no chronic absenteeism rate available in the data for this profile. A parent looking for high school outcomes would need to track how Elkhorn City students perform once they move on to the county's high schools.

The district brief for Pike County, which was searched, found little in the way of recent changes that would be of lasting impact to families. The broader community context shows a town with a compact historic commercial core, a lending library that is a branch of the county system, and civic anchors centered on the river, the Pine Mountain Trail, and Breaks Interstate Park. The economy appears driven by tourism and outdoor recreation, and the population has been declining gradually.

For a family considering this school, the key factors are straightforward. The school serves a single, stable cohort from early childhood through middle grades. The academic results are uneven, with some grade levels in reading showing solid proficiency and others, particularly in math in the upper grades, showing a clear drop. The town is small, rural, and affordable, with a housing market that is far below state and national benchmarks. The peer environment is shaped by the community's economic realities, with a high proportion of students qualifying for meal assistance. A family moving here should plan to be in close communication with the school about academic supports as their child moves through the upper elementary and middle school grades, where the testing data signals some soft spots worth understanding better.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 56% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 55% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 566%

School 66% · District 54% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 50% · ▼ 7 pts below district

even with state median

Grade 843%

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

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 366%

School 66% · District 58% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 64% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 580%

School 80% · District 68% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 743%

School 43% · District 58% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 52% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 53% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 32% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 57% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 47% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

This schoolPike 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 8Lower-income56%Higher-income75%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 8Lower-income44%Higher-income42%2 pp gap