Summary:
Rutherford, Tennessee is home to a single public school, Rutherford Elementary School, a small PK-8 campus serving 282 students within the Gibson County Special School District. This school is a strong performer overall, ranking in the top 20% of Tennessee schools for three consecutive years with a consistent 4-star rating, and it steadily outperforms the state average in every core subject.
Parents will find a school that excels in mathematics and middle school science and social studies. Nearly 58% of all students are proficient in math, well above the state's 43%, and the school beats its district in 6th and 7th grade math specifically. Sixth graders shine in science and social studies, with 75% proficiency in both subjects. The school also improved in every subject from the prior year, with particularly strong gains in English language arts, science, and social studies. Chronic absenteeism is remarkably low at just 6.9%, far better than the state average of 18.3%, which points to strong student engagement and consistent attendance.
The main area for attention is English language arts, where overall proficiency sits at 46.7% — above the state but below the district. Two grades stand out as trouble spots: 5th grade ELA (34.4%) and 8th grade ELA (29.7%) trail their district benchmarks by wide margins. On the other hand, 3rd grade ELA is close to the district average, and 6th grade ELA actually exceeds it. While the school spends a substantial $12,227 per student, there is no available data on free/reduced lunch percentages or student-teacher ratios, making it hard to assess how spending relates to student needs. With only 282 students and a multi-grade structure, Rutherford Elementary punches well above its weight, and closing the ELA gap in those two grade levels would make it an even stronger choice for families.
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