Summary:
Smilow Prep is the only school in the Joel E. Smilow Prep district, a single-school middle school district in Jackson, Mississippi, serving 521 students in grades 5–8, with an extremely high-poverty population where 99.81% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
The school has experienced a dramatic decline in its state ranking, falling from the 25th percentile in 2023–2024, to the 14th percentile in 2024–2025, and down to the 3rd percentile in 2025–2026. The Joel E. Smilow Prep district is now ranked 132 out of 134 districts in Mississippi. Test scores reflect this slide, with every grade and subject falling below state averages in the most recent year. The most extreme gap is in 7th grade math, where only 14.5% of students are proficient compared with 57.7% statewide, a 43-point difference. Science scores also collapsed, with 5th grade science dropping from 60.5% to 40.3% proficiency in a single year while the state average improved, and 8th grade science falling from 34.3% to 23.0% over the same period.
Performance declines as students advance through the grades. ELA proficiency drops from 40.8% in 5th grade to 18.1% in 8th grade, and math proficiency is low at every grade level, bottoming out at 14.5% in 7th grade. Chronic absenteeism stands at 26.0%, slightly above the state rate of 23.9%, and the 20:1 student-teacher ratio leaves limited capacity for targeted interventions. In the most recent year, no subject area is competitive with state averages; the closest is 5th grade ELA at 40.8% proficiency, still 15 points below Mississippi's rate. With a trajectory pointing further downward, Smilow Prep faces serious challenges that will require significant intervention to reverse.
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