Summary
Red Cross Elementary School serves 679 students in prekindergarten through grade 6 in Glasgow, in Barren County. Its latest test results show a clear contrast: reading is a strength, while several fifth-grade subjects are a concern. In 2025–26, fifth graders scored 23% proficient in math, 27% in social studies, and 34% in writing and editing and mechanics; math was 20 points below the state, and editing and mechanics was 14 points below. The most important finding for families is that strong reading overall does not mean results are strong across every grade and subject: fifth grade is a notable weak spot.
Reading is the school’s clearest strength compared with the district, state, and nearby schools. Across grades 3–6, Red Cross averaged 62% proficient in 2025–26, versus 51% for the state, 54% for Barren County, and 50% for nearby schools—advantages of 11, 8, and 11 points, respectively. Third-grade reading was 70%, the highest reported result among nearby schools; fifth-grade reading, at 44%, was below the state’s 51% and most reported nearby results. Fourth-grade science was another relative strength: 45% proficient, about 5 points above the state and nearby averages and 8 points above the district. For context, chronic absenteeism was 11%, lower than the district’s 17% and state’s 24%; only North Jackson Elementary had a lower rate among nearby schools.
Results have shifted over time: reading rose from an average of 54% in 2022–23 to 62% in 2025–26, while fifth-grade writing, social studies, and editing and mechanics fell by 28, 33, and 35 points. SchoolDigger gives Red Cross 3 stars and ranks it 300th of 684 Kentucky schools, at the 56th percentile; its percentile was 68 in 2024–25. The school is the largest among nearby schools, and its 15.0 student-teacher ratio is second-highest. In 2024–25, 60% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible. One notable subgroup result is that SchoolDigger places Special Education Students at the 81st statewide percentile in 2025–26, compared with the school’s 56th percentile overall—a stronger relative standing for that group.
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