Summary:
Friars Point, Mississippi is served by a single school, Friars Point Elementary, a K-6 elementary school with 133 students in the Coahoma County School District, located in a deeply impoverished area where 98.5% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Because the city has no middle or high schools, students must leave Friars Point after 6th grade to continue their secondary education elsewhere.
The school has shown meaningful improvement in recent years. Its state ranking climbed from the bottom 9% of Mississippi elementary schools in 2023-2024 (ranked 355 out of 390) to the 27th percentile in 2025-2026 (ranked 275 out of 377). The strongest results came in upper elementary: 5th grade science proficiency reached 68.1%, beating the district by 8.1 points and nearly matching the state average of 71.5%. In 4th and 5th grade math, the school outperformed both district and state averages, with 55.6% and 54.5% proficiency respectively. Fifth grade math saw a dramatic 32.2-point jump from the prior year, and 5th grade ELA also beat the district by 8 points.
The biggest concern is 3rd grade performance. Only 6.3% of 3rd graders were proficient in ELA and 12.5% in math, far below district and state averages. Chronic absenteeism affects 30% of students, higher than the district's 25% and the state's 23.9%, and with such small grade-level cohorts, proficiency rates can swing sharply from year to year. The district itself is ranked in the bottom 15% of Mississippi districts, which adds to the challenges students face after leaving Friars Point Elementary. Still, the upward trend in ranking and genuine strengths in upper-elementary math and science give parents reason for cautious optimism.
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