Best Public Schools in Princeton, KY

Princeton, Kentucky, has four schools in the Caldwell County district: Caldwell County Primary School, Caldwell County Elementary School, Caldwell County Middle School, and Caldwell County High School, spanning primary grades through high school. The clearest area-wide concern is reading: across tested grades, school results averaged 2 percentage points below state results, while all five other tested subjects averaged above the state.

Caldwell County High School had the strongest overall state-relative results in 2025–26, averaging 7 points above the state across its tested subjects; grade 11 writing was 67% versus 47% statewide, and social studies was 50% versus 37%. Caldwell County Middle School averaged 4 points above the state, with grade 8 editing and mechanics 14 points above, though grade 7 reading was 9 points below. Caldwell County Elementary School averaged 1 point above the state; its grade 3–5 math average was 7 points above, but grade 5 writing was 11 points below. The primary school has no supplied test-score results, so it cannot be compared on achievement.

Recent changes are mixed: average state-relative gaps improved by 10 points in writing, 8 in social studies and 5 in editing and mechanics from 2024–25 to 2025–26, but narrowed by 4 points in math, and reading shifted from 1 point above the state to 2 points below. SchoolDigger rankings from 2023–24 to 2025–26 moved from the 76th to 72nd percentile at the high school, from the 62nd to 64th at the middle school, and from the 48th to 52nd at the elementary school. Attendance is another point of contrast: chronic absenteeism was 29% at the high school and 26% at the middle school, versus 24% statewide; the elementary school was at 14%. All four schools report free/reduced lunch eligible for 2024–25; rates ranged from 51% at the high school to 67% at the primary school. These are contextual differences, not explanations for test results.