Summary:
Three middle schools serving grades 6–8 in and around Canton, Mississippi, span two districts—Canton Public Schools and Madison County Schools—and all serve predominantly low-income families, with free/reduced lunch rates between 94% and 100%.
Huey L Porter Middle stands out as the strongest and most consistently improving school in this group. It is the only school in the set that outperforms its own district in every subject, and it beats the state average in several areas, including 7th grade math (60.7% vs. 57.7% statewide) and 8th grade ELA (47.4% vs. 40.9%). Its state ranking has climbed from the 36th percentile in 2023-24 to the 62nd percentile in 2025-26. By contrast, Shirley D. Simmons Middle School is the specialist standout, with an elite 84.7% proficiency rate in 8th grade science and a perfect 100% on the Algebra I End-of-Course exam in 2024-25. However, Simmons is inconsistent outside of math and science, with 7th grade ELA at just 25.1% proficiency. Nichols Middle School is the school of greatest concern, ranking in the 5th percentile statewide with every subject below district and state averages.
A key theme is that chronic absenteeism tracks almost perfectly with performance. Nichols has the highest chronic absenteeism rate (37.4%) and the lowest academic outcomes, while Simmons has the lowest rate (17.0%) and the strongest science results. The most striking comparison is between Huey L Porter and Nichols—two same-district schools with nearly identical enrollment and 100% free/reduced lunch eligibility—yet Huey L Porter outperforms Nichols by more than 30 percentage points in 7th and 8th grade math. High poverty does not automatically mean low performance; school-level factors matter. For parents, Huey L Porter appears to be the strongest overall choice, while Simmons is exceptional for science-minded students.
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