NC Kentucky News

There were 508 12th grade students enrolled in Nelson County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 8.3% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Nelson County High School welcomed most of the 12th grade students in the county, registering 184 students.

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

Statewide, Nelson County ranked 23rd in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 23rd 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 12th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Nelson County High School	184	22.6%	813
Thomas Nelson High School	161	22.9%	704
Bardstown High School	141	20.2%	697
Bardstown Alternative School	17	22.1%	77
The Academy at Horizons	5	4.3%	117