SE Kentucky News

There were 304 preschool students enrolled in Bell County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 6.7% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Middlesboro Elementary School welcomed most of the preschool students in the county, registering 87 students.

Within Bell County schools, the highest student population was found in ninth grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in fifth grade.

Statewide, Bell County ranked 39th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 39th 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 Preschool Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Middlesboro Elementary School	87	17.5%	496
Pineville Independent School	43	6.7%	641
Bell Central School Center	40	7.5%	536
Yellow Creek School Center	39	6.1%	636
Page School Center	35	10.9%	320
Lone Jack School Center	22	9.6%	229
Frakes School Center	19	16.1%	118
Right Fork School Center	19	11.2%	170