Best Public Schools in Zip Code 40744

ZIP code 40744 has five Laurel County schools: three elementary schools serving prekindergarten through grade 5 and two high schools serving grades 9–12. The latest test results are for 2025–2026; elementary results cover grades 3–5 and high-school results cover grades 10–11. The available elementary averages are above state results in all six subjects, by 7 to 31 points, and South Laurel High School is above the state in five of its six subjects. The most important takeaway is that these positive area-wide results mask substantial differences between schools in some grades and subjects.

Sublimity Elementary School is the clearest elementary standout: it has the highest available results in several grade-and-subject comparisons, including 83% in grade 4 math and 89% in grade 4 reading, and SchoolDigger ranks it 5th of 684 Kentucky elementary schools. Camp Ground Elementary School stands out for grade 5 writing at 81%, 46 points above the state, and ranks 119th. Wyan-Pine Grove Elementary ranks 278th and has lower results than the other elementary schools in several comparisons, including grade 5 math at 29% and editing and mechanics at 38%; it is nevertheless above the state in several other subjects. South Laurel ranks 24th of 262 high schools, has a 97% graduation rate, and equals the state in math. McDaniel Learning Center’s six school-level test results are suppressed, so its performance cannot be compared with South Laurel’s.

Recent results show mixed movement, not a uniform upward trend: across 19 matched elementary comparisons, schools’ average margin over the state narrowed by 2 points. That margin improved by about 1 point at Sublimity but declined by 4 at Camp Ground and 3 at Wyan-Pine Grove. South Laurel’s math result fell 15 points while science rose 10. SchoolDigger’s ranking history also differs: Sublimity remained near the top, while Wyan-Pine Grove fell from the 91st to the 59th percentile between 2023–2024 and 2025–2026. As context, all three elementary schools reported free/reduced lunch eligible figures for sy 2024–2025 of 66% to 70%, with student–teacher ratios from 13.8 to 16.3. South Laurel’s 35% chronic absenteeism is notably above the state’s 24%, alongside its strong graduation rate.