Summary:
Zip code 37680, located in the rural community of Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee, is served by a single elementary school: Laurel Elementary School, a small PK–6 school with just 92 students in Johnson County Schools.
Laurel Elementary's clearest strength is Social Studies, where 41.7% of students are proficient—well above the district's 29.8% and the only subject where the school outperforms its district at the all-grades level. Sixth grade stands out as a bright spot: Math proficiency reaches 33.3% versus a 13.3% district average, and Social Studies hits 41.7% versus 23.5%. However, the school struggles significantly in Mathematics, with just 14.0% of students proficient compared to 43.0% statewide. English Language Arts performance also collapsed from 39.1% in 2024–2025 to 20.9% in 2025–2026, now below both the district (21.0%) and state (40.6%) averages, while 5th grade shows the weakest results with Math and ELA proficiency both at 9.1%.
Context is important here: Johnson County Schools ranks 136th out of 141 Tennessee districts (4th percentile), so Laurel's outcomes partly reflect systemic district-wide challenges. The school's state ranking has declined steadily, from the 38th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 16th percentile in 2025–2026, with its star rating dropping from 2 to 1. Chronic absenteeism sits at 16.0%—better than the state's 18.3% but above the district's 12.3%. Per-student spending is $19,274, relatively high for a school this size, reflecting the fixed costs of operating a small rural school. With only 92 students, each grade contains roughly 13–15 children, meaning a single student's performance can shift proficiency percentages dramatically, so year-to-year comparisons should be interpreted with some caution.
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