Summary:
Zip code 41040 has two schools: Pendleton County High School, serving grades 9–12, and Southern Elementary School, serving PK–5. In 2025–26, both schools had chronic absenteeism below the state rate: 22% at the high school and 18% at the elementary school, versus 24% statewide. Academically, however, most reported results were below state levels: just one of six high-school results and two of ten elementary results were above the state rate.
Each school has a grade-specific bright spot, but Southern’s results vary most sharply by grade. Its 5th-grade math proficiency was 49%, 6 points above the state’s 43%, while 4th-grade math was 25%, 18 points below the same state rate. Its 3rd-grade reading was also above state level, at 51% versus 49%. At Pendleton County High, 10th-grade reading was 53%, 4 points above the state’s 49%; the largest shortfalls were 11th-grade social studies, 15 points below state level, and science, 13 points below. The high school also posted a 97% graduation rate, compared with 94% statewide, despite five of its six proficiency results being below state rates.
Results improved overall from 2024–25 to 2025–26, though not in every subject or grade: 10 of the 16 matched results improved, and the average school-to-state gap narrowed by 4 points. The average gap improved by 4 points at Pendleton County High and 5 points at Southern Elementary. SchoolDigger places the high school at the 29th percentile with 1 star, up from the 21st percentile the prior year; Southern is at the 34th percentile with 2 stars, up from the 23rd. For context, in 2024–25, free/reduced lunch eligible students made up 57% at the high school and 64% at the elementary school. Student-teacher ratios were 19:1 and 14.8:1, respectively; these are observations, not explanations for academic results.
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