The top reported proficiency rate is 95% in Science. The lowest is 44% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Carl G Renn El Sch
Carl G Renn Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in Lairdsville, a quiet unincorporated rural village in southeastern Lycoming County. The school sits in the center of Franklin Township, a predominantly agricultural area where many families farm land that has been in their hands since the early 1800s. Lairdsville has no commercial district to speak of; it functions as a residential village cluster along the main road, and most shopping and services require travel to Hughesville or Williamsport. Growth here has been essentially flat, with the township's population remaining stable over the past decade. Families in this area live in dispersed single-family homes typical of farm country, with car-dependent commute patterns.
The school enrolls about small enough to be familiar but large enough to offer some program depth. Just over half the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a working-class and lower-income profile. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with almost no racial or ethnic diversity and no reported English learners. Data on special education enrollment was not provided, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about its special education and related services capacity.
In state math and English language arts testing for grades three through six, the school's proficiency rates sit below the midpoint of performance across Lycoming County districts. In math, roughly half the students tested met or exceeded proficiency, and in ELA the rate was somewhat lower. Science testing data is from the prior year and shows a much stronger result. Overall, across all tested subjects and grades, the school ranks in the top quartile relative to other districts in the county, an indication that the math and ELA results sit within a reasonable range for its peers but that science instruction appears to be a strength.
The school is part of East Lycoming School District, which covers a four-school system serving the rural and small-town parts of Lycoming County. The district has pursued a deliberately conservative property-tax path; after raising the real estate millage in the 2024-25 budget year, the board held the rate flat for 2025-26, so families moving into the district now inherit a stable tax baseline. Beyond taxes, the district is investing in visible facility improvements: new accessible playgrounds at Carl G Renn and another elementary school, high school renovations, track and field upgrades, and a district phone system funded by a safety grant. The district has also built out a mix of solar, geothermal, and biomass energy systems unusual for a rural Pennsylvania district, designed to lower long-term utility costs and environmental footprint.
Carl G Renn is a traditional public elementary school offering a regular elementary program. State testing data was available for math and ELA from the most recent year and science from the prior year; no multi-year trend data could be computed, so it is not clear whether recent proficiency rates are stable, rising, or declining. Graduation rate, chronic absenteeism rate, and staff composition data were not available, as those metrics do not apply to elementary schools. English learner and special education enrollment counts were also not reported, which may reflect very small numbers in this rural setting or a data-reporting gap; a parent should contact the school to confirm the availability and scope of these services.
For families rooted in or moving to the farming communities of southeastern Lycoming County, this school offers a small-town elementary experience in a place where roots run deep and pace is slow. Math and ELA proficiency is a soft spot worth monitoring, though performance is not an outlier in its county context. Science appears solid. The district's recent capital and energy investments signal a commitment to maintaining school facilities in the long run, and the tax-rate freeze for 2025-26 suggests fiscal prudence.
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