Boarding Schools in Kentucky

What's Up in Kentucky

This page features a list of boarding schools in Kentucky (KY), USA.

Kentucky officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Upland South region of the United States, bordered by Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to the east; Tennessee to the south; and Missouri to the west.

Education in Kentucky (KY), USA

The Kentucky Board of Education is responsible for developing, coordinating, and implementing K-12 education in each Commonwealth’s 174 school districts and 1,477 schools, including public, private, and boarding schools. Education in Kentucky includes elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and postsecondary institutions. Most Kentucky schools and colleges are accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

The Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) Grades Primary-12 help ensure that all public, private, and boarding school students across the Commonwealth focus on a common set of standards and have opportunities to learn at a high level. This site provides administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in local districts with a basis for establishing their curricula.

In 1998, the Kentucky General Assembly voted to utilize some of the state lottery profits to fund the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship. The program is designed to encourage high school boarding school students to take a pre-college level curriculum while in high school and encourage them to pursue higher education in the Commonwealth after graduation.

To motivate Kentucky high school boarding school students to take a more demanding curriculum, the Kentucky Board of Education began awarding the Commonwealth Diploma in 1987. The Commonwealth curriculum requires that the student take four Advanced Placement courses (one English, one science or math, one foreign language, and one elective) and sit for the Advanced Placement exam in at least three of the four areas (and receive at least an eight combined total score). Students whose combined scores on any three Advanced Placement exams meet or exceed a given threshold can have their registration fees for those exams refunded.

To be eligible, boarding school students must attain a grade point average of 2.5 or higher in a rigorous curriculum defined by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) and attend college at an eligible institution in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The award’s actual amount is based on a combination of the student’s grade point average and score on the ACT. The scholarship is renewable for four years, provided the student maintains his or her eligibility.

Boarding school students should have a total of at least 22 credits for high school graduation with the possibility of additional required credits as determined by each district. These credits include English, mathematics, Social Studies, Science, Health, Physical Education, Visual and Performing Arts, and six additional credits aligned with the student’s Individual Learning Plan (ILP). High school students are also required to pass a state-mandated civics test, receive instruction in essential workplace skills, demonstrate competency in technology, develop an ILP (grades 6-12), and complete a course or program in financial literacy.

Kentucky boarding schools offer students southern hospitality while ensuring them top academics. Kentucky has a lot of historical sites as well as many recreational opportunities. No matter how long students attend boarding school, Kentucky has endless ways to keep students busy.