Magoffin County

The five schools in Magoffin County serve elementary, middle and high school grades and enroll 1,902 students combined. In 2025–2026, elementary reading results were closer to state levels than math, while reported grade 5 writing results were notably low. Chronic absenteeism is the broadest concern: it ranged from 45% at Herald Whitaker Middle School to 77% at Magoffin County High School, compared with 24% statewide. This high absenteeism across all five schools is the most important shared issue for families to weigh.

Salyersville Grade School stands out among the elementary schools, leading or tying for the lead in 10 of 12 fully reported grade-and-subject comparisons. Its grade 5 social studies result was 56%, 18 points above state; however, its grade 5 writing score was 21%, 14 points below state. Results at South Magoffin Elementary vary sharply: grade 6 reading was 60%, 6 points above state, while grade 3 math was 22%, 21 points below. North Magoffin Elementary had weaker reported grade 5 results, including reading at 42% and editing and mechanics at 35%. At the secondary level, Herald Whitaker’s grade 7 reading was 3 points above state; Magoffin County High was below state in every reported subject, with grade 10 math 24 points below. Middle- and high-school results have no same-grade school peers in this list.

Recent trends are mixed: Herald Whitaker’s SchoolDigger ranking rose from the 19th to the 37th percentile from 2023–2024 to 2025–2026, while Salyersville rose from the 42nd to the 52nd; South Magoffin fell from the 59th to the 33rd. Test-score comparisons also show Herald Whitaker improving relative to state, while elementary results shifted about 2 points away from state on average. As context, all five schools report free/reduced lunch eligible (FRL) for 2024–2025, ranging from 66% at Magoffin County High to 79% at North Magoffin; the figures do not explain the score differences. Student-teacher ratios range from 11.3 to 17.3, with a five-school average of 14.4.