Best High Schools in Kentucky for Special Education Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in Kentucky!

Every year, the Kentucky Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Special Education students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish Kentucky test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the KSA test scores by the Kentucky Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 30, 2025.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)							Ranking (Special Education vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 86)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Statewide Rank Percentile (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
1	Leslie County High School	Public	9-12	25 Eagle Lane	Hyden	41749	Leslie County	Leslie County	No	No	No	No	(606) 672-2337	455	30	15.2	68.1%	451 (99.1%)	3 (0.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$21,527	$1,216	$752	$1,963	$10,249	$4,224	$14,949	98.8%	97.6%	1.20%			210333000885
2	duPont Manual High	Public, Magnet	9-12	120 W Lee St	Louisville	40208	Jefferson County	Jefferson County	No	Yes	No	No	(502) 485-8241	1,899	113	16.8	23.4%	924 (48.7%)	360 (19.0%)	128 (6.7%)	376 (19.8%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (0.3%)	105 (5.5%)	$17,738	$542	$1,681	$2,223	$11,846	$3,669	$15,515	97.7%	99.6%	1.93%			210299000734
3	Johnson Central High School	Public	9-12	257 North Mayo Trail	Paintsville	41240	Johnson County	Johnson County	No	No	No	No	(606) 789-2500	888	72	12.3	56.5%	859 (96.7%)	3 (0.3%)	7 (0.8%)	6 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (1.5%)	$41,924	$1,460	$1,175	$2,635	$11,422	$4,047	$15,469	96.5%	92.5%	3.99%			210306000802
4	East Ridge High School	Public	9-12	19471 Lick Mountain Rd	Lick Creek	41540	Pike County	Pike County	No	No	No	No	(606) 835-2811	360	26	13.8	76.1%	351 (97.5%)	4 (1.1%)	2 (0.6%)	2 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	$16,433	$1,788	$913	$2,701	$9,892	$3,548	$13,440	95.3%	44.9%	50.47%			210480001948
5	Harlan County High School	Public	9-12	4000 N US Hwy 119	Baxter	40806	Harlan County	Harlan County	No	No	No	Yes	(606) 574-2020	945	68	13.8	81.2%	889 (94.1%)	22 (2.3%)	20 (2.1%)	1 (0.1%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (1.3%)	$20,889	$2,394	$2,241	$4,635	$8,535	$3,502	$12,037	94.2%	37.8%	56.39%			210254002213
6	Knox Central High School	Public	9-12	100 Panther Way	Barbourville	40906	Knox County	Knox County	No	No	No	Yes	(606) 645-2843	720	52	13.7	74.6%	691 (96.0%)	7 (1.0%)	9 (1.3%)	4 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (1.1%)	$16,281	$2,596	$1,064	$3,660	$9,288	$3,333	$12,621	93.0%	38.2%	54.83%			210315000847
7	Bath County High School	Public	9-12	645 Chenault Dr	Owingsville	40360	Bath County	Bath County	No	No	No	Yes	(606) 674-6325	604	39	15.4	73.2%	549 (90.9%)	8 (1.3%)	32 (5.3%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (2.3%)	$31,228	$770	$450	$1,221	$8,675	$2,897	$11,572	91.9%	52.4%	39.50%			210033000057
8	Bell County High School	Public	9-12	9824 US Highway 25 E	Pineville	40977	Bell County	Bell County	No	No	No	No	(606) 337-7061	622	39	15.9	72.8%	614 (98.7%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.3%)	$32,706	$2,692	$33	$2,729	$20,928	$3,837	$24,765	90.7%	88.6%	2.11%			210039000062
9	North Oldham High School	Public	9-12	1815 S Hwy 1793	Goshen	40026	Oldham County	Oldham County	No	No	No	No	(502) 228-0158	948	45	21.2	11.9%	796 (84.0%)	16 (1.7%)	49 (5.2%)	47 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	38 (4.0%)	$18,791	$179	$51	$230	$9,572	$2,559	$12,328	89.5%	99.2%	9.68%			210453001953
10	Murray High School	Public	9-12	1800 Sycamore St	Murray	42071	Calloway County	Murray Independent	No	No	No	No	(270) 753-5202	607	36	17	44.5%	448 (73.8%)	47 (7.7%)	41 (6.8%)	24 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (7.7%)	$31,516	$923	$531	$1,454	$19,896	$4,214	$24,111	88.4%	94.9%	6.51%			210438001086

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for Kentucky

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for KY student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Homeless Students Gifted and Talented Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on KSA Mathematics, KSA Reading, KSA Science, KSA Writing, KSA Social Studies, KSA Editing and Mechanics test scores released by the Kentucky Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 30, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the Kentucky Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the Kentucky Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Kentucky Department of Education.