Summary:
Magee, Mississippi is served by a single public high school, Magee High School, which enrolls 380 students in grades 9–12 within the Simpson County School District, an area marked by high poverty and persistently low academic performance.
Magee High School has been rated 1 star in both 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, and 0 stars the year before, placing it in the bottom 11% of Mississippi high schools. Its graduation rate of 78.3% is nearly 11 points below the state average, and its test scores are well below state levels in nearly every subject. The most striking concern is chronic absenteeism: 56.8% of students are chronically absent, more than double the state rate of 23.9% and far above the district's 41.0%. With 85.53% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the school faces a compound challenge of poverty and attendance. Even so, the student–teacher ratio is moderate at 15.2:1, suggesting staffing levels are not the main constraint.
There are a few bright spots worth noting. In 2025–2026, Biology proficiency jumped to 44.6%, actually outperforming the district (40.0%) and representing a 22.9-point increase over the prior year. English II also improved from 28.1% to 34.6%. However, Algebra I dropped sharply from 43.4% to 34.8%, and U.S. History proficiency was just 35.8% compared to the state's 69.7%. The school's ranking has barely moved over three years, fluctuating between the 8th and 11th percentile, which points to systemic struggles rather than a temporary dip. For parents, the key takeaway is that while attendance and math proficiency are urgent areas needing intervention, the recent gains in science suggest that targeted improvements are possible—but the school remains far from consistent academic stability.
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