Summary:
The 11 schools in Nelson County span elementary, middle, high school, and alternative settings, enrolling 4,028 students from elementary grades through high school. The latest proficiency results show a broad challenge: across available school-grade-subject results, schools averaged 7 points below state results, with writing the weakest area at 10 points below. The most important takeaway is that most schools trail the state in most tested areas, though some schools and grade-level results stand out.
Boston School is the clearest elementary standout: its grade-4 math and reading were both 63%, 20 and 13 points above the state, and its science was 50%, 10 points above. It also had the highest SchoolDigger statewide percentile among these schools, at the 61st percentile. Thomas Nelson High School outscored Nelson County High School in all six shared subject-grade comparisons, by 2 to 19 points. At the lower end, New Haven School had 23% in grade-4 math versus 43% statewide, while Nelson County High had 21% in grade-11 writing versus 47% statewide. There are notable exceptions: Bloomfield Middle School reached 58% in grade-8 writing, 10 points above the state.
Scores improved slightly overall: across 75 matched results, schools gained an average of about 1 point, while state results were essentially flat; however, results declined at several schools, including an average 8-point drop at Nelson County High. SchoolDigger percentiles rose 33 points at Boston and 25 at New Haven, but fell 16 at Nelson County High. Other context can help families compare: 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 52% at Nelson County High and 44% at Thomas Nelson, while their student-teacher ratios were 16.1 and 19.3. Both schools also had high graduation rates—98% and 99%—alongside chronic absenteeism of about 30%, above the 24% state rate. These measures describe different aspects of schools and do not by themselves explain achievement.
Thank you for your feedback!