The top reported proficiency rate is 57% in Math. The lowest is 45% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Crab Orchard Elementary
Crab Orchard Elementary is a regular public school serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the Cumberland County district. It sits in the small, rural community of Crab Orchard on the Cumberland Plateau, a town known historically for its durable sandstone and presently home to a large limestone mine operated by Lhoist North America. The town’s population has been declining steadily over recent decades, and the community is characterized by its low density and setting along the Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 70 corridors rather than a dense pedestrian-oriented layout. The school is the only one serving this grade band in the immediate area, and its enrollment draws from the surrounding mountain-gap community.
The school’s academic performance, as measured by the state’s TNReady assessments, shows a mixed picture that a parent will want to understand subject by subject. In math, a majority of students scored at the proficient level or above across grades three through eight, a result that places the school in a stronger position. Reading and English language arts proficiency was lower, with fewer than half of students reaching that benchmark. Science results fell in between, with about half of students scoring proficient or above. Social studies, which is tested at fewer grade levels, showed a similar pattern, with a little under half of students proficient. Across all subjects, student participation in testing was near universal, so the results reflect nearly the entire enrolled population in those tested grades. For a family considering this school, the question of how well the school supports literacy growth would be a central one to explore further, as the reading scores are a softer spot relative to math and science.
The student body is not particularly diverse by race or ethnicity. The great majority of students are white, with a modest share identifying as Hispanic and very small numbers of Black or multiracial students. Data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch was not available in the record, and information on students with disabilities and English learners was also absent, so a parent interested in how the school serves those populations would need to ask the school directly. The school serves a wide grade span, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which means that many children in the community can attend the same building for a decade before moving on to high school. Families looking at this school will want to understand what the transition to high school looks like, as Crab Orchard Elementary does not cover the upper grades, and the record did not include specific information about that feeder pattern.
The housing market in the area surrounding the school is relatively affordable. Home values are well below the national median and even more so below the state median, which sits markedly higher. Monthly mortgage costs on a typical home would run notably less than the national average rent, and rent itself is moderate relative to typical incomes. For a family moving to the area, the cost of housing is a clear point of appeal, though it comes with the trade-offs of living in a small, rural town with a shrinking population and a limited local economy anchored largely by the mining operation and a few small civic institutions. The town has a community food pantry and access to parks and the planned Cumberland Trail, but search results did not identify a public library or public transit.
The district itself, Cumberland County, did not appear in web research to have undergone any major recent changes that would be of lasting interest to a parent. No district-level strategic shifts, boundary changes, or notable program expansions were found. That means what a family sees at Crab Orchard Elementary is likely to reflect a stable, if not rapidly evolving, institutional environment. The school is neither a charter nor a magnet, and its Title I status was not provided in the data, so a parent should confirm with the school whether it receives federal funding for high-poverty student support.
Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The neighbor comparison, which would place the school relative to other districts in Cumberland County, could not be completed because only one school district exists in the county for this level of comparison. The school’s performance numbers stand on their own without a local peer benchmark from the data.
For a family, the decision hinges on fit. Crab Orchard Elementary offers the stability and familiarity of a small rural school where a child can move from pre-kindergarten through middle school in one building. The math and science results give a parent reason for confidence in those areas. The reading scores are a clear area to investigate. The community is affordable, quiet, and small, but it is also shrinking and offers few of the amenities of a larger or growing town. A parent should weigh the school’s academic patterns against their child’s needs and consider asking the school directly about reading instruction, support for students who struggle, and what programs or interventions are in place.
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