Schools in Jackson, MS

Jackson, Mississippi is served by 42 schools—24 elementary, 10 middle, 6 high, and 2 special schools—enrolling roughly 19,579 students, with nearly every school reporting 99–100% free/reduced-price lunch eligibility, making this one of the highest-poverty districts in the country. The vast majority of schools belong to Jackson Public Schools, which ranks 112th out of 134 Mississippi districts, alongside six independent charter schools and two state-run special schools.

Despite the district’s low overall ranking, a small group of schools is achieving remarkable results. Barack Obama Elementary School ranks 2nd out of 377 elementary schools statewide (99th percentile, 5 stars), with 5th grade science proficiency at 97.4% and chronic absenteeism of just 5.4%. Wells APAC Elementary School ranks 14th with 100% 5th grade science proficiency, while McWillie Elementary School ranks 56th with 4 stars. At the middle school level, Northwest Middle School (88th percentile) and Bailey APAC Middle School (87th percentile) stand out with Algebra I EOC scores above 95%. Murrah High School is the highest-ranked high school in the city but remains in the bottom quartile statewide (26th percentile).

Chronic absenteeism is the clearest dividing line between high and low performers. Top schools like Barack Obama (5.4%), Walton Elementary School (8.9%), and Casey Elementary School (12.7%) all stay below 20%, while Blackburn Middle School (57.6%) and Bates Elementary School (45.6%) struggle. The achievement gap is enormous—Barack Obama’s 5th grade math proficiency is 89.5 percentage points higher than Key Elementary School’s 0%. High schools are the weakest tier, with only 1 in 4 students proficient in English II, and middle school math is a severe crisis at Peeples Middle School and Powell Middle School, where just 4–8% of 8th graders are proficient. However, science proficiency is a relative bright spot, and the success of schools like Barack Obama—serving 100% economically disadvantaged students—proves that high achievement is possible even in the highest-poverty conditions.