The Four Rivers Foundation is named after the five school districts that reside in the Four Rivers Basin which consists of the Cumberland, Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers. It is a rural area with five school districts and three technical centers that serve 3200 students. The area has the award winning ASPEN West Kentucky Community and Technical College and the regional Murray State University ranked among the best affordable regional colleges by U.S. News and World Report.

The state average for free/reduced lunch is 60.8% and the average free/reduced lunch for the five schools is 83.3%. The schools are small rural schools with limited resources and high unemployment and poverty. There are approximately 550 high school students and all juniors are required to take the ACT at the end of their junior year.

The challenge before the foundation has been to educate the students and train a work force to fill the available 13,000 unfilled jobs in the region. It is our goal to train our students to be prepared to fill those jobs and create others through their own entrepreneurial efforts as well as create a work force that will bring businesses and industries to our region. Changes are occurring with new industries coming to the region and I69 passing through parts of the region. More jobs are opening, and the mission of the foundation is to have them ready for these opportunities. There are approximately 550 students in the five high schools.

Results: 2016-2018 Data The average state graduation rate is 90.8% and the average of the five districts is 93.3%. The average state drop-out rate is 1.3% and the average of the five districts is 0.32%. The average state attendance rate is 94.4% and the average of the five districts is 95.5%. The average state college/career readiness is 60.9% and the average of the five districts is 72.6% Students have earned over 16,600 dual credit hours since 2011. The average ACT score for juniors for the five high schools in 2013 was 17.9. The average ACT score for juniors for the five high schools in 2017 was 19.6.