Harlan County High School
Baxter · KY · Harlan County · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Leslie County Area Technology Center → Bell County Area Technology Center → George Rogers Clark High School → Pike County Central High School → Letcher County Area Technology Center → Shelby Valley High School → Knox County Career and Technical Center → Knott County Area Technology Center →📋 At a glance
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 40% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 73th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 91% (54th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Harlan County High School compares for families
Solid mid-tier academic profile.
- ▸ LocallyKY sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Leslie County Area Technology Center, Bell County Area Technology Center, George Rogers Clark High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
Follow Harlan County High School
Get an email when Harlan County High School's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-2173th percentile by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
54th percentile nationally
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
🏛️ Federal Title I context
High-poverty school
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
🏛️ Your state's public flagship
University of Kentucky
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $18,851/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
💰 Pay for college in Kentucky
Kentucky's public scholarships
Kentucky's KEES award is unusual: you bank money every year you keep your grades up, then add a one-time test bonus. No income limit on the base or test award.
Kentucky banks a scholarship for each year you keep a 2.5+ GPA — bigger for higher GPAs — plus a one-time ACT/SAT bonus. (Free/reduced-lunch students can add AP/IB supplements.)
Official program details ↗Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -1.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 945 students:
≈ 87 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue at risk
At $14,510 per student in district revenue, the 87 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $1,262,370/year in funding at risk.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leslie County Area Technology Center Hyden |
Public | 18.9 | — | — |
| Bell County Area Technology Center Pineville |
Public | 23.8 | — | — |
| George Rogers Clark High School Winchester |
Public | 90.4 | 1,571 | -1.0% |
| Pike County Central High School Pikeville |
Public | 60.9 | 559 | -9.0% |
| Letcher County Area Technology Center Whitesburg |
Public | 31.4 | — | — |
| Shelby Valley High School Pikeville |
Public | 53.1 | 503 | -4.6% |
| Knox County Career and Technical Center Barbourville |
Public | 34.1 | — | — |
| Knott County Area Technology Center Hindman |
Public | 34.8 | — | — |