Best Public Schools in Zip Code 42408

Zip code 42408 has two schools in Dawson Springs: Dawson Springs Elementary serves prekindergarten through grade 5, and Dawson Springs Junior/Senior High School serves grades 6–12. Their most important contrast for families is attendance: in 2025–26, chronic absenteeism was 15% at Elementary, 9 percentage points below the state, but 35% at the junior/senior high, 11 points above it and 20 points higher than Elementary. The high school also reported a 97% graduation rate and a 0% dropout rate, compared with state rates of 94% and 1%.

Both schools have clear academic strengths, but their results vary substantially by subject and grade. Elementary’s standout was fourth-grade science, with 58% proficient versus 40% statewide, while fifth-grade editing and mechanics was a pronounced weakness at 27% versus 48%. The junior/senior high’s strongest results included 10th-grade math at 64% versus 40% statewide and 11th-grade writing at 59% versus 47%; its weakest highlighted result was sixth-grade math, at 29% versus 42%. Eighth-grade reading was also 9 points below the state. These schools serve different grade spans, so their test results are not direct, same-grade comparisons.

Results over time were mixed: Elementary’s average position relative to the state changed little across comparable tests, despite large subject-level swings, including fourth-grade science rising 29 points and fifth-grade math falling 34. At the junior/senior high, results across 13 comparable tests fell 50 points in total while state results fell 7, leaving the school’s average relative position about 3 points worse per result; exceptions included eighth-grade writing, up 20 points. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile rose from 31 to 38 for Elementary but fell from 96 to 82 for the high school. For 2024–25, student-teacher ratios were 14.9 and 13.4, respectively; both schools reported free/reduced lunch eligible as their low-income measure, at 78% and 62%.