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Which teacher or staff member at Watterson Elementary deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
454
Elementary
DISTRICT 455 · STATE 421
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·JEFFERSON COUNTY·NCES 210299000666
Watterson Elementary
3900 Breckinridge Lane, Louisville, KY 40218 · (502) 485-8342 · Jefferson County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL454 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% of Kentucky public elementary schools
- DTest 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.9:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
71%
324 students
DISTRICT 65% · STATE 63%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 59 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 62 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 73 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 92 | 20% |
| Grade 4 | 82 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 86 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (59) is 31% smaller than its 5th grade class (86).
Student demographics
71%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 72% · 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
Test scores
KSA (K-PREP) 2024-25 . % Proficient/DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
25.0%
KY avg 47.9%
Math
23.3%
KY avg 42.8%
What this means: On the KSA (K-PREP), Kentucky's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 23 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of KY schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
22.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.5%
based on KY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 22% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 39% typical for Kentucky schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Watterson Elementary
Watterson Elementary's state test result (22.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watterson Elementary this school | 454 | 71.4% | 22.4% |
| Kerrick Elementary Louisville | 348 | 73.0% | 16.6% |
| Southern Elementary School Lexington | 476 | 71.0% | 33.9% |
| Millcreek Elementary School Lexington | 529 | 70.5% | 22.9% |
| Lansdowne Elementary School Lexington | 610 | 71.6% | 29.0% |
| Greenwood Elementary Louisville | 457 | 71.8% | 19.2% |
Matched among Kentucky elementary 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 Watterson Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Kentucky | In Jefferson County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.4% | #622 of 669 | #53 of 86 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 23.3% | #610 of 668 | #51 of 84 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.0% | #635 of 674 | #61 of 89 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 454 | #325 of 744 | #57 of 99 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.8:1 | #85 of 674 | #11 of 90 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 71.2% | #45 of 674 | #23 of 90 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 71.4% | #248 of 721 | #49 of 93 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.1% | #168 of 437 | #22 of 46 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
454
-29 (-6%) vs 2020
-9% since 1990-91, when it was 501
Student : Teacher
12.8:1
was 15.6:1
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 | 454 | 35.6 | 12.8:1 | 71% (324) |
| 2023-24 | 484 | 34.7 | 13.9:1 | 70% (341) |
| 2022-23 | 494 | 32.4 | 15.3:1 | 70% (345) |
| 2020-21 | 483 | 31 | 15.6:1 | 61% (297) |
| 2017-18 | 541 | 33.8 | 16.0:1 | 74% (399) |
| 2015-16 | 553 | 31 | 17.8:1 | 70% (386) |
| 2010-11 | 593 | 35 | 16.9:1 | 68% (402) |
| 2000-01 | 587 | N/A | N/A | 41% (239) |
| 1990-91 | 501 | 25 | 20.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Watterson Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (541 to 454); teachers up 5% (33.8 to 35.6).
About Watterson Elementary
Watterson Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Louisville, Kentucky, one of the schools in Jefferson County. The school enrolls 454 students in kindergarten through 5.
District-wide, Jefferson County has 167 schools and 95,124 students.
Of every 100 students at Watterson Elementary, about 40 are Black, the largest group. Smaller groups are 29% White, 19% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 5% Asian. For comparison, the population of Jefferson County is roughly 21% Black. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 71%.
The school has 35.6 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 12.8 students per teacher. Elementary schools in Kentucky have an average ratio of 15.4:1. The school reported 71% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. On average, public schools in Jefferson County report 61%.
On the allk12 Grade, Watterson Elementary lands at D, ahead of 6% of Kentucky public elementary schools.
Watterson Elementary is a bottom-10% school in Kentucky on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 22.4% against a predicted 38.5%.
The county, Jefferson County, is where the school is located. The median household earns about $69,866 a year, 37% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Counting Watterson Elementary, Jefferson County has 175 public schools.
Of the public schools around it, Watterson Elementary is closest to Newcomer Academy, about 1.2 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. Watterson Elementary is 4th of 7 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Large, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
The 2020-21-to-2024-25 change in enrollment was a 6% drop, from 483 to 454. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 15.6:1 in 2020-21 to 12.8:1 in 2024-25.
This page is set up for the Watterson Elementary community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Jefferson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
783,022
Census ACS
Median income
$69,866
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
175
95,579 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Jefferson County
- Ballard HighHigh · 2,148 students
- duPont Manual HighHigh · 1,899 students
- Marion C. Moore SchoolHigh · 1,892 students
- Eastern HighHigh · 1,790 students
- Pleasure Ridge Park HighHigh · 1,777 students
- Louisville Male HighHigh · 1,763 students
Other schools in Louisville
- Ballard HighHigh · 2,148 students
- duPont Manual HighHigh · 1,899 students
- Marion C. Moore SchoolHigh · 1,892 students
- Pleasure Ridge Park HighHigh · 1,777 students
- Louisville Male HighHigh · 1,763 students
- Southern HighHigh · 1,725 students
Nearby schools
- Newcomer Academy1.2 mi · 578
- Klondike Lane Elementary1.3 mi · 527
- Goldsmith Elementary1.9 mi · 651
- Seneca High1.9 mi · 1,255
- Binet School1.9 mi · 22
- Price Elementary2.3 mi · 470
Frequently asked questions
About Watterson ElementaryHow large is Watterson Elementary?
Watterson Elementary enrolls approximately 454 students in grades KG-05.
Is Watterson Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Watterson Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Watterson Elementary have?
Watterson Elementary employs 36 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Watterson Elementary?
At Watterson Elementary, the student body is approximately 29% White, 19% Hispanic, 40% Black, 5% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Watterson Elementary?
Watterson Elementary is overseen by Jefferson County in Jefferson County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.