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What do you wish you knew before starting at Whitley City Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
547
Elementary
DISTRICT 441 · STATE 421
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MCCREARY COUNTY·NCES 210399001021
Whitley City Elementary School
2819 N Hwy 27, Whitley City, KY 42653 · (606) 376-2690 · McCreary County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY43-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL547 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
466 students
DISTRICT 83% · STATE 63%
Community
3
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
Based on grade levels within McCreary County. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
KSA (K-PREP) 2024-25 . % Proficient/DistinguishedEnglish Language Arts
62.3%
KY avg 47.9%
Math
55.7%
KY avg 42.8%
What this means: On the KSA (K-PREP), Kentucky's statewide test, about 62 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 56 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of KY schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
54.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.4%
based on KY schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+20.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 33% typical for Kentucky schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 21 points, placing it in Kentucky's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
547
-47 (-8%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 15.6:1
% White
97%
was 98%
% Hispanic
1%
was 2%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Whitley City Elementary School
Whitley City Elementary School is one of the average-sized K-5 schools in Whitley City, Kentucky, operated by McCreary County, with 547 students on its rolls from grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 30% above the state mean of about 421.
Whitley City Elementary School is one of 5 schools operated by McCreary County, a district that serves 2,668 students overall.
On demographics, Whitley City Elementary School records that 97% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority.
On the income-and-resources front, On paper, Whitley City Elementary School has 36 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.2:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 85% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.
On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Whitley City Elementary School ranks in the top 10% of Kentucky public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 33.4%; Whitley City Elementary School posts 54.2%, +20.7 points above that line.
In the area at large, ACS estimates for McCreary County put the typical household earns roughly $33,750 per year, roughly 9% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 33%. In all, McCreary County runs 5 public schools (combined enrollment of about 2,668 students), of which Whitley City Elementary School is one.
McCreary Central High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 3.7 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Whitley City Elementary School comes 2nd of 6 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 43.1%.
Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.
Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 8%: 594 students in 2018 compared to 547 in 2025.
On this page, members of the Whitley City Elementary School community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.
McCreary County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
16,867
Census ACS
Median income
$33,750
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
9%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
33%
Below federal line
Schools in county
5
2,668 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in McCreary County
- McCreary Central High SchoolHigh · 711 students
- McCreary County Middle SchoolMiddle · 633 students
- Pine Knot PrimaryElementary · 425 students
- Pine Knot IntermediateElementary · 352 students
Nearby schools
- McCreary Central High School3.7 mi · 711
- McCreary County Middle School3.9 mi · 633
- Pine Knot Primary7.1 mi · 425
- Pine Knot Intermediate7.2 mi · 352
- Winfield Elementary15.3 mi · 198
- Williamsburg City School17.2 mi · 833
Frequently asked questions
About Whitley City Elementary SchoolHow large is Whitley City Elementary School?
Whitley City Elementary School enrolls approximately 547 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Whitley City Elementary School serve?
Whitley City Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Whitley City Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Whitley City Elementary School is approximately 15.2:1 (36 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Whitley City Elementary School?
Whitley City Elementary School reports a student body of 97% White, 1% Hispanic, 0% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Whitley City Elementary School?
Whitley City Elementary School is overseen by McCreary County in McCreary County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.