Summary
HCS Virtual Academy is an alternative K–12 school serving 123 students in Hardin County, in the Elizabethtown area of central Kentucky. Its reported 2023–24 graduation rate was 0%, compared with 92% in Hardin County and 92% statewide; families may want to ask how the school’s figure should be interpreted. The most pressing concern is attendance: chronic absenteeism was 62% in 2024–25, versus 20% in the district and 25% statewide—gaps of 42 and 37 percentage points.
Among the available 2025–26 test results, middle-grade reading is HCS’s strongest area: 7th-grade reading was 50%, matching both district and state results, while 8th-grade reading was 40%, matching the state and 2 points above the district. High-school results are weaker, especially 10th-grade math: 8% met the benchmark, 40 points below the district and 32 below the state. 10th-grade reading was also below both benchmarks, at 24% versus 53% in the district and 49% statewide. Nearby schools’ comparable school-level test results are suppressed, so the available figures do not show how HCS ranks against them.
Results have moved in sharply different directions by grade: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, 10th-grade math fell 16 points, from 24% to 8%, and 10th-grade reading fell 22 points, from 46% to 24%; in contrast, 8th-grade reading rose 21 points, from 19% to 40%. HCS also reports a striking 123:1 student–teacher ratio for 2024–25, compared with an average of 8.8:1 at nearby schools. Its 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible share was 55%, below every nearby school’s 61%–92% range and their 75% average. SchoolDigger rates the district—not HCS individually—90th of 158 districts, in the 43rd percentile, with 2 stars.
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