SE Kentucky News

There were 680 eighth grade students enrolled in Whitley County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 5.7% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Whitley County Middle School welcomed most of the eighth grade students in the county, registering 328 students.

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

Statewide, Whitley County ranked 19th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 19th 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 8th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Whitley County Middle School	328	52.9%	620
Corbin Middle School	224	32.2%	696
Williamsburg City School	64	6.9%	926
Whitley County Alternative School	23	20.5%	112
Colonel Academy	19	10.7%	178
Corbin School of Innovation	14	5.8%	241
Corbin Educational Center	8	10.1%	79