Ballard County

Ballard County has three schools serving kindergarten through grade 12: Ballard County Elementary School (K–5, 444 students), Ballard County Middle School (grades 6–8, 202 students), and Ballard Memorial High School (grades 9–12, 276 students). The clearest current academic standout is the middle school: its reported 2025–2026 test results averaged 6 points above state results for the same grades and subjects, though the decline from the previous year is an important counterpoint.

The middle school had the strongest individual results, including grade 8 editing and mechanics at 62% versus 42% statewide, and grade 7 reading at 66% versus 50%. The weakest results were at the elementary school: grade 4 math was 26% versus 43% statewide, and grade 5 writing was 23% versus 35%. Across each school’s reported test results, the elementary school averaged 4 points below state results, compared with 2 points above at the high school and 6 points above at the middle school. Results also vary by subject: elementary grade 5 editing and mechanics was a strength at 59% versus 48%, despite weaker writing and social studies.

Test scores fell from the previous year in all three schools’ comparable results: the middle school’s average score dropped 10 points and its position relative to the state declined 8 points; the high school’s average score fell 9 points, though reading rose 2 points. The high school pairs those test declines with a 99% graduation rate versus 94% statewide. SchoolDigger’s ratings put the middle school highest at the 71st percentile (4 stars), followed by the high school at the 64th (3 stars) and the elementary school at the 38th (2 stars); all three percentiles have fallen since 2023–2024. As context, the 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 61% at the elementary school, 51% at the middle school, and 54% at the high school; student-teacher ratios were 16.4, 14.7, and 13.5, respectively. The high school’s 2025–2026 writing result is suppressed and unknown, not zero, and results should be considered alongside the schools’ different grade spans and enrollments.