Schools in Zip Code 42635

ZIP code 42635 has two schools serving prekindergarten through grade 5: Pine Knot Primary (PK–2, 425 students) and Pine Knot Intermediate (grades 3–5, 352 students), both in the McCreary County district. Only Intermediate has supplied achievement results, so the schools cannot be compared directly on test scores. The most important finding is that Intermediate’s average across its reported grade-and-subject results fell by 11 points, leaving it just 2 points above the state average in 2025–2026.

Pine Knot Intermediate’s strongest current result relative to Kentucky was third-grade reading: 61% proficient, 12 points above the state’s 49%. Reading was also above the state in grades 4 and 5, by 3 points in each grade. Its weakest state comparison was fourth-grade math, at 37% versus 43%, or 6 points below; its lowest score overall was fifth-grade writing, at 32%, 3 points below the state. The results are mixed across grades: third-grade math was 11 points above the state, while fourth- and fifth-grade math were below it. No achievement results were supplied for Pine Knot Primary, so there is no supported top-to-bottom comparison between the two schools.

Intermediate’s results shifted substantially year over year: it was above the state in 9 of 10 reported comparisons in 2024–2025, but in only 5 of 10 in 2025–2026. The largest declines were fifth-grade writing, down 33 points, and editing and mechanics, down 25; third-grade reading and math were exceptions, rising 4 and 14 points. SchoolDigger ranked Intermediate 144th of 685 schools (79th percentile, four stars) in 2023–2024 and 143rd in 2024–2025, before it fell to 310th of 684 (55th percentile, three stars) in 2025–2026. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligibility was 87% at Primary and 86% at Intermediate; student-teacher ratios were 14.6 and 13.0, respectively. In 2025–2026, chronic absenteeism was 41% at Primary and 34% at Intermediate, both above the state’s 24%.