NE Kentucky News

There were 279 sixth grade students enrolled in Carter County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 14.7% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

East Carter Middle School welcomed most of the sixth grade students in the county, registering 154 students.

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

Statewide, Carter County ranked 44th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 44th 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 6th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
East Carter Middle School	154	29.2%	528
West Carter Middle School	121	30.6%	395
Carter Virtual Academy	4	3.9%	102