Summary:
Utica has one listed school, Southern Oaks Elementary School, serving preschool through grade 5 in the Daviess County district. In 2025–2026, the school’s results were above the state in all 10 reported subject-and-grade comparisons, with advantages ranging from 4 points in fifth-grade social studies to 15 points in fourth-grade mathematics. With no other Utica school to compare, its broad lead over state results is the clearest local achievement finding.
Southern Oaks is both the top and bottom of Utica’s school list; there is no local school-to-school comparison. Compared with the state, its strongest results were fourth-grade mathematics, at 58% versus 43%, and fourth-grade science, at 50% versus 40%. Its narrowest advantage was fifth-grade social studies, 42% versus 38%. Compared with the district, the school was ahead in mathematics, averaging 54% versus 50%, and in science, 50% versus 45%; reading was only about 2 points higher on average. It tied the district in writing at 45% and trailed in social studies, 42% to 48%, and editing and mechanics, 54% to 57%.
Results dipped slightly overall from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: the school’s average across the 10 comparisons fell from 53.4% to 52.7%, while the state average rose from 43.7% to 44.0%. The contrast by grade and subject matters: third-grade reading rose 13 points, but fifth-grade writing fell 12 points; fifth-grade social studies and editing and mechanics each fell 6 points. SchoolDigger ranks the school 180th of 684 Kentucky schools, in the 74th percentile with four stars, similar to its 2024–2025 percentile and rating and improved from 276th, 60th percentile and three stars in 2023–2024. Chronic absenteeism was 10% at the school, versus 19% in the district and 24% statewide. The school has 468 students, a 16.7:1 student-teacher ratio for 2024–2025, and 54% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025; these figures describe the school but cannot be compared with Utica peers.
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