Middle Schools in Holmes County Consolidated

Holmes County Consolidated is home to two middle schools — S.V. Marshall Middle School in Lexington and Williams-Sullivan Middle School in Durant — both serving grades 6 through 8 in a high-poverty area of Mississippi, with 100 percent of students at each school eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Within the Holmes County Consolidated district, which ranks 116th out of 134 districts in the state, these two schools mirror the district's broader academic struggles. However, there are clear differences between them, and parents comparing the two will find that Williams-Sullivan is the stronger school by nearly every measure.

Williams-Sullivan Middle School posts a 2025–2026 state rank of 215th out of 260 schools, compared to S.V. Marshall's 248th. Its average proficiency across seven MAAP tests is 30.0 percent, versus 23.8 percent at S.V. Marshall. The most dramatic gap is in 8th-grade Science, where Williams-Sullivan reached 61.4 percent proficiency — above the state average of 57.8 percent and more than double S.V. Marshall's 27.5 percent. Williams-Sullivan also has lower chronic absenteeism (9.3 percent versus 14.8 percent) and a slightly better student-teacher ratio (11.2 versus 12.7). S.V. Marshall's 8th-grade English Language Arts proficiency of just 9.9 percent is a serious concern, and its math scores also trail in 8th grade (16.5 percent versus 33.4 percent).

Trends are also moving in opposite directions. Williams-Sullivan's average proficiency rose 1.4 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while S.V. Marshall fell 2.5 points. Both schools show relative strength in math — especially 7th grade, where S.V. Marshall reaches 38.4 percent and Williams-Sullivan 32.6 percent — but ELA remains a larger challenge. Notably, chronic absenteeism at both schools is well below the district's 30.9 percent rate, suggesting attendance alone does not explain the low test scores. Parents should view Williams-Sullivan as the higher-performing option in the district, while S.V. Marshall needs urgent attention, particularly in 8th-grade literacy.