Best Public Schools in Zip Code 40336

Zip code 40336 has five Estill County High School, West Irvine Elementary, Estill Springs Elementary, Estill County Middle School and Estill County Success Academy, serving elementary through high school and enrolling 2,078 students altogether. The clearest school-to-school difference is in the elementary grades: Estill Springs outscored West Irvine in all 10 matched grade-and-subject results for 2025–26, by an average of 9 percentage points.

Estill Springs is the stronger of the two elementary schools across those comparisons, averaging 39% proficient to West Irvine’s 30%; its largest leads were 22 points in fifth-grade math and 18 points in fifth-grade reading. Still, neither school was ahead of the state in every result: Estill Springs was above state results in fifth-grade reading, social studies and editing and mechanics, while West Irvine’s results in those subjects were lower. Across 36 reportable results from four schools, the average was 36% proficient, compared with 43% statewide; math had the largest average shortfall, at 11 points, while social studies was closest to the state, 2 points below. At the high school, the graduation rate was 99%, 5 points above the state, but chronic absenteeism was 36%, 12 points higher than the state. Success Academy’s 2025–26 test results are suppressed; its earlier reportable result was 12% in 10th-grade reading, compared with 47% statewide and 40% districtwide.

Recent changes do not show a clear area-wide improvement: across the 36 results that can be compared year to year, school scores were essentially flat. Estill County High’s scores rose by an average of 3 points, while Estill Springs’ fell by 2; West Irvine and the middle school were essentially unchanged on average. SchoolDigger rankings also vary: the high school rose from the 31st to the 43rd percentile in the latest year, but remained below its 62nd-percentile showing two years earlier; West Irvine, Estill Springs and the middle school were at the 15th, 36th and 35th percentiles, respectively. The elementary schools have similar reported context—2024–25 student-teacher ratios of 15.3 at Estill Springs and 16.5 at West Irvine, and free/reduced lunch eligible shares of 70% and 69%—but their test results differ. These figures offer context for comparing schools, not an explanation for the differences.