Summary:
Hernando, Mississippi is home to two public middle schools serving grades 6 through 8, together educating 2,179 students within the DeSoto County School District, which is rated 3 stars and ranks 45th out of 134 districts statewide.
Both Hernando Middle School and Lewisburg Middle School have earned 5-star ratings, making them clear bright spots in a district with a middling rating. Lewisburg Middle School is the standout, ranking #2 out of 260 Mississippi middle schools in 2025–2026 and maintaining a top-5 position for three consecutive years. Its math performance is exceptional, including a 90.9% proficiency rate in 7th grade math and a perfect 100% score in Algebra I End-of-Course in 2024–2025. Hernando Middle School is also a strong performer, ranked #20, though it slipped from #7 in the previous two years. Lewisburg's overall proficiency average was 75.0% in 2025–2026 compared to Hernando's 67.8%, widening the gap from about 1 point to 7 points year over year, driven largely by a drop in Hernando's ELA scores from 63.1% to 54.8%.
Perhaps the most interesting dynamic is that Hernando actually beat Lewisburg in every 8th-grade subject in 2025–2026 — ELA, math, and science — while Lewisburg's superior overall ranking is driven by stronger 6th- and 7th-grade performance, especially in math. Both schools show a striking pattern where math proficiency far exceeds ELA proficiency, with gaps of 23 to 25 percentage points. Chronic absenteeism also does not align with performance: Lewisburg has a higher rate (22.7%) yet is the higher-ranked school. With relatively low free/reduced-price lunch eligibility and student-teacher ratios near 17:1, both schools offer strong academic environments. Families in Hernando have two excellent, high-performing middle school options.
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