Jackson Purchase News

There were 784 12th grade students enrolled in McCracken County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 9.7% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

McCracken County High School welcomed most of the 12th grade students in the county, registering 462 students.

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

Statewide, McCracken County ranked 13th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 13th 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
McCracken County High School	462	21.9%	2,112
Paducah Tilghman High School	230	24.6%	936
McCracken Open Campus School	50	17.9%	279
McCracken Regional School	25	7%	355
Choices Educational Center	17	13.3%	128