Summary:
Zip code 37680 contains just one school, Laurel Elementary School, a small rural school in Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee, serving 92 students in grades PK through 6 as part of Johnson County Schools. This 1-star school (16th percentile statewide) is the lone educational option in the area, making its performance the single measure of local school quality.
Laurel Elementary currently ranks 855th out of 1,019 Tennessee schools, a steady decline from 636th (38th percentile, 2 stars) in 2023-2024. Academically, the school trails both district and state averages in most subjects: math proficiency is 14.0% (district 17.9%, state 43.0%) and ELA is 20.9% (district 21.0%, state 40.6%). The brightest spot is 6th grade, where students exceed district proficiency by 20 points in math (33.3% vs. 13.3%), 14.5 points in science (41.7% vs. 27.2%), and 18.2 points in social studies (41.7% vs. 23.5%). Overall social studies proficiency of 41.7% also beats the district's 29.8%. In contrast, 5th grade is a clear weak point, with just 9.1% proficiency in both math and ELA.
The most dramatic shift is ELA proficiency, which plummeted from 39.1% in 2024-2025 to 20.9% in 2025-2026 — a swing likely driven by the school's very small size, where one weak cohort can drastically alter results. Chronic absenteeism is 16.0%, lower than the state's 18.3% but above the district's 12.3%. Per-pupil spending is exceptionally high at $19,274, typical for small rural schools with high fixed costs, yet that investment has not produced above-average outcomes. Families considering this area will find a tight-knit rural school with strong 6th-grade instruction, but should also expect significant academic challenges in lower grades and considerable year-to-year performance volatility.
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