Best Public Schools in Dayton, KY

Dayton, Kentucky, has two schools in Dayton Independent: Lincoln Elementary School, serving PK–6, and Dayton High School, serving grades 7–12; together, they enroll 811 students. The clearest overall concern is that most 2025–26 test results fell below state benchmarks: 23 of 25 results were below the state, and the average gap was 11 points.

Lincoln Elementary School had the strongest state-relative result, with fifth-grade writing 6 points above the state and third-grade math 4 points above. Dayton High School had the largest shortfall: eleventh-grade writing was 25 points below the state; its strongest state-relative result was eighth-grade social studies, still 9 points below. Lincoln exceeded district results in all 12 of its numeric tests; Dayton High was above the district in 9 of 13 and equal in the other 4. Lincoln’s chronic absenteeism was 16%, below the state’s 24%, while Dayton High’s was 24%, slightly above it. Dayton High nevertheless had a 93% graduation rate, close to the state’s 94%. Because the schools serve different grades, their strongest and weakest grade-specific results are not direct comparisons between schools.

Results on tests available in both years shifted downward overall: the average gap from the state widened from 7 points in 2024–25 to 11 points in 2025–26, a 4-point change. Some results moved against that trend, including a 15-point rise in Dayton High eighth-grade social studies, while its eleventh-grade writing fell 36 points. SchoolDigger rated both schools one star in 2025–26; its percentile rankings fell from 40 to 28 for Lincoln and from 43 to 18 for Dayton High since 2023–24. In 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible students made up 85% at Lincoln and 86% at Dayton High. Student–teacher ratios were 13.7 and 12.7, respectively. These are useful context, not explanations for the test results.