O. P. Earle Elementary, Landrum SC

Original Research by School Decision on O. P. Earle Elementary

O. P. Earle Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in Landrum, a small city in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and part of Spartanburg County School District 1. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is moderate for an elementary school of this grade span. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, and multiracial students, and a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which signals a significant concentration of lower-income households in the attendance zone.

State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year give a mixed picture. In English language arts, the school’s performance is strongest in the upper elementary grades: fourth and fifth graders each posted proficiency rates that reached or exceeded three-fifths of tested students. Third graders were at half proficient. In math, the pattern is different. Fourth graders cleared the half mark, but third and fifth graders both fell below two-fifths proficient. Science, tested only in fourth grade, also landed below half. The state changed its cut scores for ELA and science in that testing cycle, so these results cannot be directly compared to prior years — a parent may want to ask the school how recent performance trends look under the new standards. An older result from 2018-19 showed high proficiency in social studies for fifth graders, but that assessment has since been discontinued or replaced, and the data is too dated to rely on.

Compared to other school districts in Spartanburg County — the seven that had usable data — O. P. Earle Elementary’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint. This means that, on average, the school’s academic results are weaker than those found in the typical district within the county. For a family weighing school options, this tells you that the school is not among the county’s higher-performing elementary schools in terms of test scores.

The surrounding community of Landrum offers a compact, walkable downtown with antique shops and eateries, and the region is known for equestrian activity and horse farms. Home values in the Landrum zip code area are moderately above the state median but still below the national median, placing the housing market in a middle bracket — affordable relative to much of the country but not especially cheap by South Carolina standards. The school district itself covers a broader area than just Landrum, but recent web research did not turn up any significant district-level changes such as boundary overhauls, curriculum shifts, or tax referendums that would directly affect the school.

Some information that a family might want is not available in the data provided. The school’s Title I status, which would clarify whether it receives federal funding for high-poverty programs, was not reported. Civil rights data on discipline, special education enrollment, and English learner population were also absent. No program offerings — such as gifted, arts, or extracurriculars — were listed for this school. Because O. P. Earle is an elementary school without high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was missing. A parent who wants a fuller picture would need to contact the school directly for details on support services, enrichment opportunities, and the specific academic trajectory for students moving into Landrum Middle and High School.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 66% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 53% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 56% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 69% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 61%

even with state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 562%

School 62% · District 64% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Science

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 48% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 582%

School 82% · District 82%

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

This schoolSpartanburg 01, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income65%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income53%Higher-income79%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income56%Higher-income74%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income34%Higher-income48%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income71%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income44%6 pp gap