SE Kentucky News

There were 235 12th grade students enrolled in Letcher County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 8.9% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Letcher County Central High School welcomed most of the 12th grade students in the county, registering 200 students.

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

Statewide, Letcher County ranked 54th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 54th 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 12th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Letcher County Central High School	200	24.9%	804
Jenkins Independent School	32	5.9%	547
Letcher County Alternative Education Center	3	9.7%	31