The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Science. The lowest is 61% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Mclaurin Elementary School
McLaurin Elementary School sits on Star Road in Florence, Mississippi, a small but fast-growing suburban city in Rankin County within the Jackson metro area. The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and is part of the Rankin County School District. Florence has been one of the more rapidly expanding small cities in the state, with its boundaries pushing north toward Richland and east and west toward the Pearl River. The community is overwhelmingly residential and car-dependent, with a modest traditional downtown grid around College Street where city hall and civic offices are located. Publicly reported sources describe a family-oriented place where a large share of households include children under eighteen, and the housing market reflects that profile. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below the national benchmark but above the state figure, making the area relatively affordable for families looking to buy, and rents remain modest as well. No specific major employers were identified in the available research, so many residents likely commute into the broader Jackson metro for work.
The school itself enrolls a mid-sized population for its grade band. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which marks the school as serving a largely lower-income community. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller Black enrollment, a modest Hispanic presence, and a scattering of students identifying as two or more races. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
On Mississippi's state assessments, McLaurin Elementary's results paint a mixed but largely solid picture. Math proficiency is a clear strength in the upper elementary grades. Third grade math proficiency is strong, fourth grade is higher still, and sixth grade math is also strong. Fifth grade math is the outlier, with less than half of tested students reaching proficiency, a notable dip compared to the grades above and below it. A parent may want to look into what is happening in fifth grade math specifically, whether the drop reflects a cohort issue, a curricular transition, or something else the school can speak to.
English language arts results follow a similar pattern of strength in the lower grades and softening as students move up. Third grade ELA proficiency is solid, fourth grade dips, fifth grade recovers to a respectable level, and sixth grade falls to the weakest point in the set, with less than half of tested students proficient. This downward trend in the later elementary grades is something families might ask about, particularly if their child is entering fifth or sixth grade. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a healthy proficiency rate, which is encouraging.
No trend data across multiple years was available, so it is hard to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. Participation rates were also missing from the data, which limits the picture somewhat. There is no graduation rate to report because the school does not serve high school grades, and that gap simply reflects the grade band served.
Information on specific programs, course access, staffing ratios, discipline data, attendance, and Title I status was not provided, so those dimensions cannot be assessed. The school is not a charter school. Its magnet status was not reported. The Rankin County School District operates several schools in Florence, with McLaurin paired with McLaurin High School for grades seven through twelve, giving families a continuous pathway through graduation within the same community.
For a family considering this area, McLaurin Elementary offers a small-town setting with strong early-grade math and reading results, a solid science showing, and an affordable housing market in a community that is growing and adding families. The questions worth asking the school directly center on the fifth grade math dip, the sixth grade ELA decline, and what support structures exist for the substantial low-income population the school serves.
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