Best Public Schools in Evarts, KY

Evarts, Kentucky, has two elementary schools—Evarts Elementary and Black Mountain Elementary—both serving pre-K through grade 8, with 335 and 248 students, respectively. Their latest results show a marked difference in overall academic performance: across 17 grade-and-subject results reported by both schools, Evarts averaged 43% proficient, compared with 30% at Black Mountain and 38% on the matching state results. The most important finding is that Evarts has the stronger overall profile, while the schools’ results vary substantially by grade and subject.

Evarts Elementary stands out most consistently: it was 27 points above the state in both grade 6 reading (81% versus 54%) and grade 5 social studies (65% versus 38%), and 19 points above in grade 7 science. Black Mountain Elementary has strengths in grade 3, leading Evarts in math (45% versus 30%) and reading (55% versus 43%), but its results are lower in several other comparisons. The widest gap is grade 5 social studies, where Evarts scored 65% and Black Mountain 19%; grade 5 editing and mechanics also differed by 42 points. Grade 8 reading is a shared concern: both schools scored 15%, against 40% statewide. SchoolDigger gives Evarts 3 stars and ranks it 235th of 684 statewide; Black Mountain has 2 stars and ranks 437th.

Recent trends reinforce the contrast, though not every result moved in the same direction. On tests comparable across both years, Evarts improved by an average of 6 points per test, while Black Mountain fell by 8; Black Mountain’s grade 6 reading rose 17 points, but its grade 5 social studies fell 31. SchoolDigger’s rankings moved from the 65th to 66th percentile for Evarts between 2023–2024 and 2025–2026, while Black Mountain declined from the 64th to 36th percentile. Evarts has a higher student-teacher ratio (13.9 versus 11.2). In 2024–2025, free/reduced lunch eligible students made up 88% at Evarts and 91% at Black Mountain. Chronic absenteeism in 2025–2026 was high at both schools—40% at Evarts and 53% at Black Mountain, compared with 24% statewide.