Summary:
Zip code 42653 has one listed school, Whitley City Elementary School, which serves prekindergarten through grade 5 and enrolls 547 students. The reported test results cover grades 3–5. Because it is the only school in the local list, there is no school-to-school comparison; its results can be compared with state results and across grades. The most important finding is that the school performed above the state in 8 of 10 reported subject-and-grade results in 2025–2026, averaging 57% across those results versus 44% statewide, a 13-point advantage.
The strongest results were in grade 5 editing and mechanics, where 80% were proficient compared with 48% statewide, and grade 4 science, at 57% versus 40%. Grade 5 writing was also above the state, at 50% versus 35%. The clearest relative weak spots were both in grade 3: reading was 42% compared with 49% statewide, and mathematics was 39% compared with 43%. Reading varied sharply by grade, from 42% in grade 3 to 82% in grade 4, a 40-point spread; this means the school’s overall average does not reflect every grade equally.
Results changed unevenly over time: from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, grade 3 reading fell 17 points, while grade 4 reading rose 25 points; grade 4 science improved 14 points and grade 5 editing and mechanics rose 13 points. SchoolDigger ranked the school 245th of 685 schools, in the 64th percentile with 3 stars, in 2023–2024; it ranked 139th in 2024–2025 and 156th of 684, in the 77th percentile with 4 stars, in 2025–2026. That is an 89-place improvement over the period, despite a 17-place drop in the latest year. As context, 85% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025, and the student-teacher ratio was 15.1:1. Chronic absenteeism was 29% in 2025–2026, below McCreary County at 36% but above the state’s 24%.
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