Summary:
The data set for Middle Schools in the Joel E. Smilow Prep district includes just one school, Smilow Prep, which serves grades 5 through 8 and enrolls 521 students in the Jackson, MS area. This is a high-poverty school, with 99.81% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and the district itself ranks in the bottom 1% of Mississippi districts. Smilow Prep is currently ranked 252 out of 260 middle schools in the state, placing it in the 3rd percentile, which means it is performing far below the vast majority of schools across Mississippi.
The school has seen a sharp decline in its state ranking over the past three years, dropping from the 25th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 14th percentile in 2024–2025, and finally to the 3rd percentile in 2025–2026. Proficiency rates are well below state averages in nearly every subject and grade. In English Language Arts, only 15.5% of 7th graders and 18.1% of 8th graders are proficient, compared to state averages of 36.7% and 40.9% respectively. Mathematics is the biggest concern, with proficiency below 24% in every grade and just 14.5% in 7th grade—a gap of 43.2 percentage points compared to the state. Science scores are also very low, especially in 8th grade where only 23.0% of students are proficient versus 57.8% statewide. Chronic absenteeism is slightly above the state average at 26.0%, meaning about one in four students is missing enough school to affect learning.
Academic performance tends to get worse as students advance through the grades: 5th grade math proficiency is 23.6%, but by 8th grade it is only 19.6%, and the gap in science widens dramatically. Large year-to-year declines are also visible, with 8th grade math dropping from 28.9% to 19.6% and 5th grade science falling from 60.5% to 40.3%. There were small improvements in 5th and 6th grade ELA, but not enough to offset the overall downward trend. Combined with extreme economic disadvantage and elevated absenteeism, Smilow Prep faces serious challenges that will require targeted intervention in math, science, and attendance to reverse its current trajectory.
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