SE Kentucky News

There were 657 11th grade students enrolled in Laurel County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 7.6% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

North Laurel High School welcomed most of the 11th grade students in the county, registering 339 students.

Within Laurel County schools, the highest student population was found in first grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in preschool.

Statewide, Laurel County ranked 14th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 14th 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 11th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
North Laurel High School	339	24.5%	1,385
South Laurel High School	270	22.1%	1,222
Laurel County Day Treatment	31	14%	222
McDaniel Learning Center	17	19.1%	89