Clark Elementary School

As a medium-sized elementary school in Paducah, Kentucky, Clark Elementary School works with 615 students from grades K through 5, run under Paducah Independent. That puts it 46% above the typical public school in Kentucky, which averages around 421 students.

Paducah Independent comprises 7 schools with combined enrollment of 3,103 students; Clark Elementary School is among them.

On the student-mix side, Clark Elementary School shows that the largest single group is White, at 57% of enrollment. Beyond that, the school reports 20% Black, 14% multiracial, 9% Hispanic. That is considerably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 82%.

On the income-and-resources front, Clark Elementary School records 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.2:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 15.4:1 average. About 47% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is noticeably below McCracken County's rate of about 57%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Clark Elementary School sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 47.7%; this one delivers 59.7%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for McCracken County put the typical household earns roughly $64,373 per year, roughly 29% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Across McCracken County's 22 public schools (combined enrollment of about 9,883 students), Clark Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Paducah Middle School, around 0.3 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Clark Elementary School ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 45.2%.

The school occupies a metropolitan site.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count showed little movement: 612 students in 2018 compared to 615 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment edged down from 28% to 20% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio loosened from 14.2:1 in 2018 to 16.2:1 today.

On the community side, recent activity here tends to focus on sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.