SW Bluegrass News

There were 227 fifth grade students enrolled in Anderson County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 19.8% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Emma B. Ward Elementary School welcomed most of the fifth grade students in the county, registering 78 students.

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

Statewide, Anderson County ranked 50th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 50th 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 5th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Emma B. Ward Elementary School	78	16.1%	484
Robert B. Turner Elementary School	75	13.5%	557
Saffell Street Elementary School	74	17.3%	428