Summary:
ZIP code 40050 has three public schools serving kindergarten through grade 12: New Castle Elementary School (326 students), Henry County Middle School (421), and Henry County High School (608). The area’s results are uneven: the middle and high schools are generally above their grade-specific state results, while the elementary school is below in every latest published result. The most important finding is that New Castle Elementary School merits particular attention, averaging 19 points below state results while the two secondary schools average above them.
Henry County Middle School stands out most consistently: 7 of 10 reported results were above the state, one matched it, and two were below; its grade 8 writing result was 67% versus 48% statewide, a 19-point advantage. Henry County High School had 4 of 6 results above the state and a 20-point writing advantage (67% versus 47%), but grade 11 science was 8 points below. At the bottom, all 9 published results at New Castle Elementary School were 10 to 29 points below state results, including grade 4 reading, 21% versus 50%. Science was below the state at all three schools, by 7 points at middle school, 8 at high school, and 27 at elementary school. Schools serve different grades, so their test scores are not direct, like-for-like comparisons.
Recent test changes differ by school: high school gained 37 points across six matched results (about 6 points per result), middle school lost 61 across 10 (about 6 per result), and elementary school lost 10 across nine (about 1 per result). SchoolDigger rankings also diverged: high school’s percentile ranking rose from 41 to 65 in the latest year, middle school’s shifted from 72 to 64, and elementary school’s declined from 17 to 8. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 49% at high school, 54% at middle school, and 58% at elementary school; student-teacher ratios were 16.0, 14.5, and 16.3, respectively. These figures describe the schools but do not explain their results.
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