The Light Bearer

How Black students are performing in Mississippi schools

In Mississippi, 37.1% of Black students are proficient in English at the typical school — against 58.4% of White students. Within Jackson Public Schools alone, the gap between the best and worst schools for Black children is 74 points. This tool helps you find the right one.

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48.4%
All students
40.7%
Black
50.7%
Hispanic
61.6%
White
79.8%
Asian

Share of students meeting proficient at the typical Mississippi school. Groups are shown wherever Mississippi reports them; a group is omitted from a school when too few students were tested to report safely.

These figures come from MDE Report Card 2024-25, measuring proficient in English & Math · All grades. Across 142 districts, 928 Mississippi schools report enough results to be included.

At the typical Mississippi school the picture is black students at 40.7%, hispanic students at 50.7%, white students at 61.6% and asian students at 79.8%. That is a 39.1-point spread between the highest and lowest group, inside the same schools, the same districts and the same state — which is what this tool exists to make visible.

What the Mississippi data shows

Landscape
2

Mississippi schools earn an A for Black students

An A means 80% or more of Black students are proficient. Of 780 schools with at least 25 Black student results, two clear it: Barack H Obama Elementary School in Jackson at 83.3%, and Laurel Magnet School of the Arts at 82.8%.

Disparity
74.3 pts

gap between the best and worst schools for Black students in Jackson Public Schools

Barack H Obama Elementary School reaches 83.3%. Peeples Middle School, in the same district, sits at 9.0%. Across 35 schools in one district, a child's address decides which end they land on.

Opportunity
61

schools where 60%+ of Black students are proficient

Eastside Elementary in Clinton reaches 73.7% across 378 Black student results — the strongest result in the state at real scale. In the state with the highest Black student share in the country, these schools are proof the ceiling is not fixed.

Where Black students are doing best in Mississippi

These are the schools where Black students most often meet proficient, among those with at least 25 Black student results reported. Every group's result is shown alongside, because a school that serves one group well and another poorly is telling you something too.

SchoolAllBlackHispanicWhiteAsian
Barack H Obama Elementary SchoolJackson Public School District 83.6% 83.3%
Laurel Magnet School of the ArtsLaurel School District Magnet 83% 82.8%
Luther Branson SchoolMadison County School District 75% 78.4%
Ackerman ElementaryChoctaw County School District 84.3% 77.7% 87.7%
Bayou View Elementary SchoolGulfport School District 89% 77.7% 79.2% 91.8% 90.9%
Mannsdale Upper ElementaryMadison County School District 83.6% 75.9% 75% 85.9% 93.2%
Madison Station Elementary SchoolMadison County School District 86.6% 75% 89.2% 87.7%
Eastside ElementaryClinton Public School District 79.1% 73.7% 60.9% 90.6% 75%
Lyman Elementary SchoolHarrison County School District 77.1% 73.3% 59.4% 79.6%
Lewisburg High SchoolDesoto County School District 82% 72.2% 74.7% 83.8%

Flags show magnet, charter, alternative and virtual schools. Some campuses — early college and specialized academies among them — also admit by application, and this page cannot yet identify all of them. Check with the district before assuming a school is open to your address.

Where Black students are struggling most

The same measure at the other end of the range. In many of these schools every group is falling short, which points at the school rather than at the students in it.

SchoolAllBlackHispanicWhiteAsian
Booker T Washington Intern. StudiesClarksdale Municipal School District 17.1% 8.7%
Peeples Middle SchoolJackson Public School District 9.4% 9% 13.6%
Amanda Elzy Junior High SchoolGreenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District 11.6% 10.9%
Powell Middle SchoolJackson Public School District 11.8% 11.4% 18.4%
Cardozo Middle SchoolJackson Public School District 12.1% 12% 4.5%
Blackburn Middle SchoolJackson Public School District 13% 13%
Isable Elementary SchoolJackson Public School District 14.2% 13.4%
O M Mc Nair Middle SchoolHumphreys County School District 15.3% 14.4%
Bettie E Woolfolk Middle SchoolYazoo City Municipal School District 14.8% 14.5%
Coleman Middle SchoolGreenville Public School District 14.8% 14.5%

One district, two outcomes

In Jackson Public School District, Barack H Obama Elementary School reports 83.3% of Black students meeting the standard. Peeples Middle School, in the same district, reports 9%. That is a 74.3-point spread across 35 schools under one administration, serving one community, funded by one tax base — the clearest illustration of why address matters more than it should.

Mississippi districts

Districts with at least ten schools reporting Black student results, by school count. The percentage shown is the average across that district's schools for Black students.

Jackson Public School District — 35 schools, 31.6% average
Desoto County School District — 32 schools, 49.8% average
Rankin County School District — 21 schools, 52.8% average
Harrison County School District — 18 schools, 53.3% average
Madison County School District — 17 schools, 59.3% average
Pascagoula Gautier School District — 13 schools, 44.3% average
Vicksburg Warren School District — 13 schools, 34.9% average
Lamar County School District — 11 schools, 47.8% average
Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District — 11 schools, 21.7% average
Sunflower County Consolidate School District — 11 schools, 39.1% average
Gulfport School District — 10 schools, 47.3% average
Hattiesburg Public School District — 9 schools, 51.2% average
Jones County School District — 9 schools, 39% average
Meridian Public School District — 9 schools, 27% average
Lee County School District — 9 schools, 30% average
Lowndes County School District — 9 schools, 46.2% average
Marshall County School District — 9 schools, 30.6% average
Greenville Public School District — 9 schools, 32.8% average
Cleveland School District — 8 schools, 37.9% average
Biloxi Public School District — 8 schools, 48.1% average
Hinds County School District — 8 schools, 43.4% average
Holmes Consolidated School District — 8 schools, 32.8% average
Lauderdale County School District — 8 schools, 45.8% average
Tupelo Public School District — 8 schools, 40.3% average
Columbus Municipal School District — 8 schools, 29.1% average
Canton Public School District — 8 schools, 38.7% average
Clarksdale Municipal School District — 7 schools, 24.6% average
Covington County School District — 7 schools, 39.1% average
Starkville- Oktibbeha Consolidated School District — 7 schools, 37% average
Picayune School District — 7 schools, 40.2% average
Scott County School District — 7 schools, 40.4% average
Simpson County School District — 7 schools, 27% average
Natchez-Adams School District — 6 schools, 34.9% average
Forrest County School District — 6 schools, 47.2% average
Clinton Public School District — 6 schools, 66.8% average
Laurel School District — 6 schools, 35.4% average
Oxford School District — 6 schools, 47.7% average
Leake County School District — 6 schools, 33.2% average
Marion County School District — 6 schools, 36.5% average
South Pike School District — 6 schools, 38.1% average
How these averages are calculated. The figures above average across Mississippi schools, giving each school equal weight. They describe the typical school, not the state's tested population, and will differ from the headline figure MDE Report Card 2024-25 publishes — that one weights every student equally, so larger schools count for more. Use the state's own published figure when citing a statewide number.

How to read the school data. Mississippi suppresses results for groups with too few students tested. Schools without a reportable Black student result are excluded rather than shown as zero — 928 of Mississippi's schools have reportable data. This ranking reflects the 2024–25 MAAP administration. The Mississippi Department of Education publishes updated results annually. Rankings will be refreshed each year as new data becomes available. Because every state sets its own proficiency standard, Mississippi's figures should not be compared directly against another state's.

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