Summary:
Bolton, Mississippi is served by a single school, Bolton-Edwards Elementary Middle School, which enrolls 335 students in grades PK–8 and sits within the Hinds County School District. As the only school in the city, it serves as the educational hub for the community, and its 100% free/reduced lunch eligibility highlights the high-poverty context in which the school operates.
For parents, the most encouraging news is the school’s recent upward momentum. After a difficult 2024-2025 year when it ranked in the 13th percentile statewide, the school rebounded to the 30th percentile and earned a 2-star rating for 2025-2026. The strongest driver of that improvement is mathematics. Overall math proficiency jumped from 32.4% to 43.2% in a single year, with especially dramatic gains in 4th grade (from 13.9% to 53.5%) and meaningful increases in 6th and 8th grades. In 3rd grade, 61.1% of students are now proficient in math, which beats both the district (46.8%) and state (48.8%). Still, 5th grade math remains a weak spot at just 22.9% proficient, suggesting that strong early-grade instruction is not fully carrying through every grade level.
The school’s biggest challenge is English language arts. In every tested grade, ELA proficiency trails the state average, with particularly large gaps in 4th grade (21.5% vs. 52.4% statewide), 6th grade (19.4% vs. 48.0%), and 8th grade (23.7% vs. 40.9%). Science is improving, though both 5th and 8th grade still sit below state averages. On a positive note, chronic absenteeism—a key indicator of engagement—is notably better than the district and state despite the school’s high-poverty population, with 17.0% of students chronically absent compared to 23.5% for the district and 23.9% statewide. In short, Bolton-Edwards shows real promise in math and attendance, but literacy is the critical area where parents and the community will need to see focused, sustained progress.
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