Summary:
Purvis, Mississippi is home to a single middle school, Purvis Middle School, serving grades 6-8 with 447 students in the Lamar County School District. The school has earned a 4-star rating and currently ranks 58th out of 260 Mississippi middle schools (78th percentile). Over the past three years, its ranking has fluctuated between 50th and 79th, showing consistent upper-third performance.
Mathematics is the school's clear strength. In 2025-2026, all three grades outperformed both district and state averages, with an overall math proficiency of about 67.5%, roughly 13.6 points above the state average. Seventh grade math is especially notable at 70.9% proficiency. Science is also strong, with 66.4% of 8th graders proficient. English Language Arts, however, lags behind the district in every grade, with an average of 45.8% versus the district's 49.0%. The 8th grade ELA score dropped from 56.6% to 44.6% year over year, a significant decline worth monitoring.
The school serves a majority low-income population, with 51.9% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, yet still outperforms state averages in most subjects. Chronic absenteeism is a concern at 23.3%, higher than the district's 18.6% and nearly matching the state average. With 14.4 students per teacher, class sizes are reasonable. A bright spot is the dramatic improvement in 6th grade math, which jumped 23 points to 68.0% proficiency. Reducing absenteeism and closing the ELA gap with the district are the two biggest opportunities for growth.
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