Summary:
Zip code 41553 has one high school, Phelps High School, serving grades 7–12 with 239 students in Pike County. Its 2025–26 results are stronger than Kentucky’s in some subjects and weaker in others, rather than consistently high or low. The most important concern is eighth-grade math: 16% of Phelps students were proficient, compared with 39% statewide.
Because this area has only one school in the list, Phelps is both the only school to consider and the standout; there is no local school-to-school top or bottom. Its clearest strengths relative to the state were eighth-grade writing, with 63% proficient versus 48% statewide, and eleventh-grade social studies, with 49% versus 37%. Eighth-grade social studies was also above the state, at 44% versus 39%. Along with the math result, eighth-grade reading is a notable weakness: 22% were proficient, compared with 40% statewide. Overall, Phelps exceeded the state in six of 11 reported subject-and-grade results and fell below it in five.
Recent results and SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking have improved overall, though not across the board. Across six tests available for both years, Phelps’s average rose by 6 percentage points from 2024–25 to 2025–26, while the state average changed little; eighth-grade social studies improved by 23 points and eleventh-grade editing and mechanics by 13, but tenth-grade reading fell by 8. SchoolDigger’s ranking rose from 198th of 290 schools (32nd percentile, 2 stars) in 2023–24 to 72nd of 262 (73rd percentile, 4 stars) in 2025–26. As context, in 2024–25 Phelps had an 11.9 student-teacher ratio and 90% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible. These measures do not establish why results changed, and the ranking pool varied in size by year.
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