SE Kentucky News

There were 399 kindergarten students enrolled in Harlan County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 7% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Harlan Elementary School welcomed most of the kindergarten students in the county, registering 97 students.

Within Harlan County schools, the highest student population was found in first grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in 12th grade.

Statewide, Harlan County ranked 38th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 38th the year before.

Despite escaping some of the pandemic's educational disruptions, Kentucky's achievement gaps have remained an issue since 2019. In the eighth-grade reading assessments, for example, Hispanic students scored eight points lower than their white peers, and the gap reached 15 points in math. Black students fared even worse, falling more than 20 points behind and facing a failure rate nearly double that of their white counterparts.

School	# of Kindergarten Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Harlan Elementary School	97	25.9%	375
Cumberland Elementary School	59	11.7%	505
Evarts Elementary School	45	12.5%	359
Black Mountain Elementary School	44	13.8%	320
James A. Cawood Elementary School	38	10.6%	359
Rosspoint Elementary School	38	9.1%	419
Wallins Elementary School	35	8%	435
Cawood Elementary School	30	12.4%	242
Green Hills Elementary School	13	9%	145