Knott County

The seven schools in Knott County include five elementary schools, one high school and one alternative school, with 2,048 students total—an average of 293 per school. Their reported 2025–2026 chronic absenteeism rates all exceed the state’s 24%, ranging from 36% at Hindman Elementary School to 55% at Cordia School. The biggest overall takeaway is that achievement varies sharply by grade and subject, while absenteeism is high at every school.

Jones Fork Elementary School stands out at the top of SchoolDigger’s elementary rankings, at the 81st percentile, and fifth-grade math proficiency is 82% versus 43% statewide. Carr Creek Elementary School has standout fourth-grade results—86% in math and reading, compared with 43% and 50% statewide—but its eighth-grade math is 20%, versus 39% statewide. At the high-school level, Cordia leads the reported tenth-grade comparisons, with 71% proficient in math and 88% in reading, versus 40% and 49% statewide. At the lower end of SchoolDigger’s elementary rankings, Beaver Creek Elementary School is at the 36th percentile; Emmalena Elementary School is at the 45th. Emmalena nonetheless has a bright spot in eighth-grade writing: 63%, 15 points above the state.

Rankings show a modest average dip but substantial differences in schools’ direction of change: the five elementary schools averaged the 53rd percentile in 2025–2026, down 2 points from the previous year. Jones Fork rose 9 points, while Beaver Creek rose 14, from the 22nd to the 36th percentile; Carr Creek fell 21 points. These are SchoolDigger rankings, not test-score percentages. School size, student-teacher ratios and income measures do not neatly distinguish results: in 2024–2025, Jones Fork and Beaver Creek had similar enrollment (153 and 183) and free/reduced lunch eligible rates (82% and 83%), yet their rankings differed by 45 points. Across all seven schools, that measure ranged from 63% to 83% in 2024–2025.