Elizabethtown Times

There were 1,574 eighth grade students enrolled in Hardin County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 5.5% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

James T. Alton Middle School welcomed most of the eighth grade students in the county, registering 268 students.

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

Statewide, Hardin County ranked sixth in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked sixth 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 8th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
James T. Alton Middle School	268	36.9%	726
East Hardin Middle School	250	30%	833
Bluegrass Middle School	218	32.7%	667
North Middle School	209	31.8%	658
West Hardin Middle School	209	36.9%	566
Talton K. Stone Middle School	179	30.7%	583
Lincoln Trail Behavioral Health Systems	138	21.4%	646
College View Campus	89	10.9%	818
Valley View Education Center	9	11.2%	80
Hardin County Day Treatment Center	3	10.7%	28
Spectrum Care Academy	2	20%	10