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Alumni: what's one memory from Phillip Sharp Middle School that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
420
Middle
DISTRICT 533 · STATE 558
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PENDLETON COUNTY·NCES 210474001646
Phillip Sharp Middle School
35 Wright Rd, Butler, KY 41006 · (859) 472-7000 · Pendleton County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL420 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 13% of Kentucky public middle schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Kentucky public middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.5:1 · STATE 15.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
236 students
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 63%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 153 | 36% |
| Grade 7 | 126 | 30% |
| Grade 8 | 141 | 34% |
Student demographics
8%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 10% · STATE 47% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Phillip Sharp Middle School→Pendleton County High School
Based on grade levels within Pendleton County. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
KSA (K-PREP) 2024-25 . % Proficient/DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
39.0%
KY avg 47.9%
Math
28.0%
KY avg 42.8%
What this means: On the KSA (K-PREP), Kentucky's statewide test, about 39 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 28 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Kentucky schools, those numbers are about 48 and 43.
Source: KSA (K-PREP). All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
30.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.2%
based on KY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% typical for Kentucky schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Kentucky's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Phillip Sharp Middle School
Phillip Sharp Middle School's state test result (30.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phillip Sharp Middle School this school | 420 | 56.2% | 30.2% |
| Foley Middle School Berea | 429 | 57.1% | 50.0% |
| Johnson County Middle School Paintsville | 449 | 58.8% | 46.9% |
| Mckell Middle School South Shore | 338 | 58.0% | 38.5% |
| Simons Middle School Flemingsburg | 342 | 57.0% | 36.4% |
| James E Bazzell Middle School Scottsville | 448 | 55.6% | 32.8% |
Matched among Kentucky middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Phillip Sharp Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Kentucky |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 30.2% | #177 of 216 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 28.0% | #183 of 216 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 39.0% | #162 of 217 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 420 | #156 of 221 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.1:1 | #116 of 210 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 7.9% | #201 of 210 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.2% | #131 of 219 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -22.8% | #27 of 156 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
420
-134 (-24%) vs 2020
-38% since 2000-01, when it was 678
Student : Teacher
16.1:1
was 17.9:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 420 | 26 | 16.1:1 | 56% (236) |
| 2023-24 | 418 | 25 | 16.7:1 | 63% (263) |
| 2022-23 | 497 | 28.9 | 17.2:1 | 61% (305) |
| 2020-21 | 554 | 31 | 17.9:1 | 65% (359) |
| 2017-18 | 544 | 28.5 | 19.1:1 | 59% (323) |
| 2015-16 | 575 | 29 | 19.8:1 | 62% (356) |
| 2010-11 | 576 | 36 | 16.0:1 | 59% (337) |
| 2000-01 | 678 | 44 | 15.4:1 | 0% (0) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Phillip Sharp Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 23% (544 to 420); teachers down 9% (28.5 to 26).
About Phillip Sharp Middle School
Phillip Sharp Middle School is a small middle school based in Butler, Kentucky. The school had 420 students in grades 6 through 8 in 2024-25. Average enrollment for middle schools in Kentucky is about 558, so this school runs 25% smaller than that.
Across its 4 schools, Pendleton County enrolls 2,130 students. Phillip Sharp Middle School is one of those schools.
At Phillip Sharp Middle School, White students make up 96% of the student body. That is close to the 93% White share among all Pendleton County residents. Phillip Sharp Middle School has a diversity index of 8%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Teachers at Phillip Sharp Middle School total 26 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 16.1:1. Across middle schools in Kentucky, the average ratio is about 15.8:1. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 56%.
allk12 grades Phillip Sharp Middle School a D. The grade compares the school only with Kentucky public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 30.2%. For its free or reduced-price lunch share, the predicted value is 44.2%.
In the county around the school, Pendleton County, median household income is about $64,669, roughly 15% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 11%. Phillip Sharp Middle School is among the 4 public schools in Pendleton County.
Northern Elementary School is the public school closest to Phillip Sharp Middle School, about 3.5 miles away. Phillip Sharp Middle School has 2 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Phillip Sharp Middle School at 7th of 9.
For locale, NCES codes Phillip Sharp Middle School as Rural: Distant.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Phillip Sharp Middle School went from 554 students to 420. The student-to-teacher ratio went down from 17.9:1 to 16.1:1.
Topics for discussion here include school safety, transportation, and start times. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Pendleton County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
14,723
Census ACS
Median income
$64,669
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
15%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
4
2,130 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Pendleton County
- Pendleton County High SchoolHigh · 667 students
- Southern Elementary SchoolElementary · 542 students
- Northern Elementary SchoolElementary · 501 students
Nearby schools
- Northern Elementary School3.5 mi · 501
- Pendleton County High School3.8 mi · 667
- Southern Elementary School5.1 mi · 542
- Grant's Lick Elementary School8.2 mi · 326
- Piner Elementary School11.0 mi · 354
- John W. Reiley Elementary School11.3 mi · 530
Frequently asked questions
About Phillip Sharp Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Phillip Sharp Middle School?
Phillip Sharp Middle School enrolls approximately 420 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Phillip Sharp Middle School serve?
Phillip Sharp Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many teachers does Phillip Sharp Middle School have?
Phillip Sharp Middle School employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.1:1.
What is the student diversity at Phillip Sharp Middle School?
Student demographics at Phillip Sharp Middle School are roughly 96% White, 1% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is Phillip Sharp Middle School public or private?
Phillip Sharp Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Pendleton County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.