Summary
Lara Kendall Elementary School in Ridgely, Tennessee, serves 326 students in grades 3–8 within the Lake County Schools district, and despite its "elementary" name, it functions as a middle school. The school is currently ranked in the bottom fifth of Tennessee schools (486 out of 594, 1 star), and its district, Lake County Schools, ranks near the very bottom of the state at 138 out of 141 districts. That makes Lara Kendall an isolated low performer in a relatively high-performing region: nearby Dyersburg Middle School, Three Oaks Middle School, and Northview Middle School all rank in the top 60–79th percentiles statewide, and Dyer County Schools is ranked 19th in Tennessee.
The biggest concern for parents is academic proficiency. Math proficiency at Lara Kendall is 17.6%, compared to 43% statewide, while nearby Three Oaks Middle School and Northview Middle School post rates of 48.1% and 53.5%, respectively. English Language Arts proficiency is 19.3% versus 40.6% statewide, and science is just 15.3% compared to 46.9% statewide. Social studies is the school's relative strength at 37.3%, though it still trails the state average of 51.4% by 14 points. The school spends slightly less per student ($12,367) than Dyersburg Middle School ($13,452), Northview Middle School ($13,173), and Three Oaks Middle School ($13,891), but it does have a favorable student–teacher ratio of 9.6, suggesting that funding and staffing alone do not explain the achievement gap.
There are some genuine bright spots. Chronic absenteeism has fallen dramatically from 33.2% in 2021–2022 to 10.8% in 2024–2025 — now below the state average of 18.3% and comparable to nearby schools. Eighth-grade math proficiency (30.4%) is within 8 points of the state average, and social studies is the school's strongest subject. However, 7th-grade ELA is a critical red flag, with only 6.3% of students meeting state standards. For parents, this suggests that while the school has made real progress on attendance, the core academic challenges remain significant, and the school has not yet broken out of the bottom quintile of Tennessee schools.
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