North Bluegrass News

There were 151 eighth grade students enrolled in Owen County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 5.6% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Maurice Bowling Middle School is the only school in the county that welcomed eighth grade students.

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

Statewide, Owen County ranked 95th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 95th 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
Maurice Bowling Middle School	151	29.5%	512